30 Days with an American and Brit
by WastinTimeWatchinGrass
Summary: 30 Prompts broken to be uploaded every 30 days. Join Taylor and Saguru as they take part in 30 different events and scenarios to get even closer to each other than ever before with household chores, real and non-real scenarios, and finding out more about each other in general.
1. Day 1

**30 Day OTP Challenge!**

 **Thank you to mizufallsfromkumo from Tumblr for making the list for me to use! I loved ALL of them!**

 **Saguru Hakuba x OC (Taylor Maddox), ages have increased to mid-to-lower twenties.**

 **Longest is 6 pages while the shortest is 2 and a half, though the average is 3-4 pages.**

 **These characters are from my other story,** ** _Patriotic Redcoat,_** **which hasn't actually been written yet. Until then, enjoy these 30 prompts that I couldn't wait to write and couldn't wait to post when I considered the amount of stories with Saguru there actually are.**

 **Until then, without further ado:**

 **Day one: Getting lost somewhere**

"We're lost."

"We're not lost."

"You keep saying that, but do you even know what road we're on?"

"I don't even know what the main road from my hometown is- I go by landmarks."

"Fine then- do you know where the next landmark is?"

"We aren't in my hometown, so I can't tell you that."

Saguru groaned for the billionth time and he leaned his head against the window. "Stop at the next stop for directions."

"I would, but look around us. I haven't seen a gas station for miles- which we need by the way. We're under half a tank." Taylor said, drumming her fingers against the wheel.

"How does one even get this lost?"

" _You're_ the navigator! Why aren't you _navigating_?" Taylor switched off her brights as a car came to pass them. "Look, there have been a lot more cars passing us so that probably means that we're coming up to a town. You know what's in towns?"

"A gas station?" Saguru said dryly.

"Well, yes, but _stores_. You know what's in stores? GPSs. I have my credit cards so we can get another one!" The last GPS they had got stolen at one of the previous gas stations they hit. Taylor, needless to say, wasn't too happy about it and neither were the employees who had to stop her from breaking a window washer stick in her anger.

"Except we need the internet to connect us to the next place we need to go." Saguru said. He paused. "I believe most fast foods have those for free."

"And most fast food places are open late for travelers." Taylor grinned. "See? I knew we could do it!"

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that we were lost for _four hours_."

"Three and a half, if you want to get technical." Taylor said. "This isn't the worst case of being lost on a road trip that I've gotten into. My brothers and I went down to Tennessee once- that's an eight hour trip, just so you know- to visit my dad at work. On the way back Nick decided to try and reroute the GPS while we were in the middle of nowhere and it was stuck rerouting _forever_ because we had no signal, and because we had no signal we couldn't use the maps on our phones. We drove around for at _least_ an hour before I got a bar on my phone."

"Why didn't you stop at a town and buy a map?"

"We did, but Jason couldn't figure out how to read it and I really couldn't give a damn about it as long as we made it back to Ohio so I could be on time for school." Taylor answered.

"You are the only kid I know who would willingly leave vacation early to make it to school." Saguru commented. "Though I will say that I would do the same thing if I was in your place."

"That's 'cause you know honors classes are a pain in the ass to make up." Taylor said, her face brightening. "Look, buildings! There's going to be a town in the next five minutes!"

Saguru only gave a low hum in response, looking out into the darkness. "Taylor?"

"Yes?"

"How much longer should this trip take?"

Taylor gave a noise of thought, her fingers doing that annoying tap on the wheel again. "Well, we're on a highway of Ohio right now- don't give me that look, Saguru, it's a small, old highway. Don't expect it to look like the main ones that connect the North and South- and if what the GPS said is correct then we follow this until we hit 24."

"And how long ago was that?"

"About two hours ago." Saguru let out another groan. "Hey, calm down. The town is surrounded by highways- it's just a matter of when we join one of them." He didn't say anything. "Saguru? Aw don't fall asleep on me just yet! I'm going to be bored if you do- look, Saguru, a town! Open your eyes and join me in my search of a GPS!"

"No. It's past midnight and we're lost."

"Think of it as us going on an adventure." Taylor said. The buildings became much more frequent and Taylor let out a nervous giggle. "An adventure that just ended, 'cause we're here!" Saguru was very quiet and that made the drumming on the wheel that much harder and more frequent. "…Saguru?"

" _How do you not know what the outskirts of your own hometown looks like?!"_ He yelled. Taylor winced.

"W-well, usually I take the main highways here and even those look the same-"

"So let me get this straight: you got us lost-"

"I took us adventuring into the unknown."

"- You got us lost trying to find the main highways and somehow managed to find the exact place we needed to go. How do you even _do_ that?"

"To be honest I was just going a random direction trying to find Dayton to try and get you to stop yelling." He glared at her. "Sorry! But the good news is that we're here! And by here I mean at my house! And look, they waited up for us!"

Saguru sighed as she got out of the car, nearly falling in her rush. "You're never driving me anywhere again."

 **Most of these prompts were written sometime after midnight but have been revised multiple times. It's actually going through its final revision as I'm copying and pasting it to Fanfiction (as all prompts are part of one major document and I don't want to go through the trouble of moving them to their own separate ones. It's just more satisfying this way).**

 **I'm not sure if I portrayed Saguru the right way, but I'm trying my best at it. It'll get better the later on it goes when it hits the prompts I** ** _really_** **get into**


	2. Day 2

**And now for the second day of the 30 Day Prompt Challenge. I'll admit, I had some problems with this prompt simply because a) I'm not a pet name kind of person and b) I've never been in a relationship, so it was hard trying to figure out how they would act** **why did I write all of these prompts then.**

 **Day two: Pet names**

"Hey Sherlock, get over here and help me out."

"Mozart, you got number six on your homework wrong again."

"Boston, your tea water is heated up. Go take care of it so I can finish mastering this piece."

"Princess, your books are scattered all over the dining room table. Would you please move them so I can have space to work while we eat?"

"Oh, Romeo, you _do_ have a way with words. But if you could go ahead and stick your tea in another cup so I can have that cup for my coffee that would be sweet."

Aoko and Kaito watched the couple with intensity. This was becoming a constant thing for them to do together as a couple- they would go to their house (either Taylor or Hakuba's, all depending on where they were at at the moment, which Kaito somehow always managed to find out, which was just as strange as him always knowing when they did this certain activity of theirs) and write down all of the names the blondes would call each other. It was fun, in it's own odd little way.

"Boston?" Aoko asked.

"Boston tea party in America, where the Americans threw tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of high taxes. Considering she was talking about tea when she used it I think it's pretty creative." Kaito answered.

No one had any idea when they started this pet name thing, but as soon as anyone witnessed it they would love to see it again. Aoko especially, who would always drag Kaito along with her to see it again whenever he told her that they were doing it.

"My sweet assistant, I believe your cousin called you earlier today. Have you got back to that yet?"

"No, my dear detective, but I'll call them as soon as you manage to catch Kaitou Kid."

Kaito let out a laugh and Aoko's hand clamped over his mouth. The two looked at them in surprise.

"What?" Taylor asked in confusion.

"Nothing, nothing." Aoko waved them off. "Just continue doing what you were doing and we'll continue what we're doing."

Taylor and Hakuba shared a look. "You two are in _my_ house." Hakuba said as they sat down in front of them. "So it should be customary for me to serve you."

Kaito moved Aoko's hand of of his mouth. "No, no, we're all friends, right?" Aoko continued. "So it's okay if we just sit here and enjoy each other's company without doing anything!"

"Alright." Taylor said slowly. "But would you like anything anyway?"

"Some popcorn would be nice." Kaito grinned.

"Popcorn." Hakuba repeated. Kaito nodded and he sighed.

"Alright. Golden, would you make them some before you get back to the piano? I have to run these papers upstairs real quick."

"Sure, Redcoat. (American History, Kaito explained once more). They shared a smile and Taylor left the room. Hakuba, however, didn't move an inch, instead choosing to cross his arms and lean backwards. However Kaito didn't miss a beat, ignoring the annoyance on the Brit's face.

"So," He said, leaning forwards. "When are ya going to tie the knot and get married?"

Hakuba's face turned a little pink. "I'm sorry?"

"I mean, it makes _sense_ , doesn't it?" He turned to Aoko. "She helps out entertaining your guests _and_ you have a piano for her to play."

"The piano was a gift from my father," Hakuba objected. "And she helps out with the guests because she knows how busy I can get."

"Not busy enough to ignore your guests, though." Kaito shot back.

The annoyance that was on his face returned. "I don't know what game you two are playing," He said, and Kaito didn't know if it was directed at watching them play their nickname game or the marriage comment. It was probably both. "But it's _this_ close to becoming annoying." Aoko stiffened next to him and he was pretty sure that Hakuba could tell how nervous he was, whether he had a poker face on or not. He had the knack for figuring that sort of thing out.

"What game?" He asked in a steady voice.

"You think we wouldn't notice that you two would show up every time we do this nickname thing?" Hakuba asked. Kaito knew that he would notice, but he also knew that it was unlikely that Taylor noticed. Hakuba probably told her after awhile.

"Do we? I haven't noticed- it must be subconscious or something." Aoko let out a nervous laugh and Kaito gave her a warning jab in her side. She hissed something at him that he didn't catch but he was positive she called him an idiot.

"Right," Hakuba drawled, standing up with a stack of papers in hand. "Then it should also be subconscious to know when you should leave. Sweetie?" He called out.

That was their cue. Creative pet names were fun to watch, but once it turned into sweet, loving pet names it got awkward and it wasn't fun for anybody- especially when they started getting into cleverly hidden flirtatious pet names. "Well, this was fun but I think we have to go now." Kaito said, practically jumping to his feet and pulling Aoko behind him towards the door.

"Bye Hakuba-kun, Amaya-chan!" She called out before she closed the door. The house was silent once more.

"They left rather fast that time," Taylor said, leaning against the doorway. "One pet name and they're gone?"

"They had some encouraging words beforehand, mind you." Saguru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on. She only laughed.

"I love them, but I'm glad they're gone." She said. "I have work that I need to do."

"Yeah, me too." He looked down at her. "Care to take a break at four and start making dinner?"

"Sounds good to me, _sweetie_." She smiled. "But you're keeping track of the time."

"Of course," He scoffed. "You'll forget to watch the time."

"Now, now." She said. "If you keep that up then _you_ will cook dinner all alone."

Saguru bit the inside of his cheek, remembering the last time he attempted to cook dinner alone. "Alright, honey."

Taylor laughed again. "I'm only kidding. Come get me in two hours."

"It's one right now, Taylor." It was his turn to laugh as she bit her lip. "I'll get you in _three_ hours, got it?"

She sighed. "Yes, dear."

 **I've decided that Saguru can't cook (since he was always too busy on cases and classes to learn how) and Taylor can't tell the time very well (because that's a thing that happens). Jeez, she can't tell time and she can't remember directions- she would probably die if she tried to do anything involving the two without Saguru. But he would probably burn the house down. Equal trade?**

 **Pet names are weird.**


	3. Day 3

**It's fun because you can see what days I had fun with and what days I struggled with and what days are half-and-half.**

 **Day three: Patching Each Other Up**

"It's just a small burn."

"I don't care how small it is- just come over here so I can fix it!" No one moved. " _Now_ , Saguru."

Saguru grumbled as he sat down at one of the counter chairs. "I told you it wasn't that bad; I could easily do it myself."

"I have no doubt of that," Taylor said. "It's just a hell of a lot easier when you have somebody to help you. Here- hold it under the water and I'll be right back."

He grudgingly did as told, glaring at the tap and the water and finally at what caused the mess in the first place. A teapot lay on the ground, a pool of water surrounding it on the floor. A crack was evident on the surface- he had to get a new one now.

"Was it just your arm?" She asked, coming back as quick as she said she would have.

"Some got on my shirt, but I got it off quick enough for it not to burn me." She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I... I take full responsibility for what happened." She said, watching the water hit his arm.

"I already forgave you so you don't need to worry about it." Saguru said easily, not really mad about it in the first place. She rested her arms on the counter and her head on her arms.

"Obviously I will, since you got hurt." Taylor grumbled out.

Saguru was making tea and was pouring the water into his cup when Taylor banged the back door open and scared him, making his arm jerk and get hit by the almost boiled water. Taylor, feeling bad about what had happened, had taken it upon herself to patch up his arm.

"It feels better now, if that makes you feel better." She took his arm out of the cool water and started to bandage it. "Tell me why you were rushing back inside."

"I got excited because I wanted to show you the squirrel that always taunts Duke." She murmured.

"Is that why he was barking?" Saguru asked, his voice soft to try and calm her down.

"It's one of the many reasons why," Her voice was quiet. "He's always barking and taunting Wilson for one reason or another."

They sat there in silence as Taylor finished. "See?" Saguru smiled at her. "Not as big of a deal as you made it out to be."

"Right," Taylor said, her chest tight. He stared at her before putting his hand on her leg. She looked up to meet his gaze.

"It's okay, Taylor." He reassured her. "I've been burned before."

"I still feel bad about it." She said. Saguru tightened his hold before leaning forward and kissing her softly. Her eyes fluttered closed as she returned the kiss.

"Don't feel bad," He said, leaning back after a moment. "It's nothing too severe, okay?"

"Okay," She repeated. He cupped her cheek and she leaned into it, placing her hand on his. "This is sad- here you are comforting me when _you're_ the one that got hurt."

"Maybe so, but if you need to be comforted then you need to be comforted, nothing wrong with that." He assured her. "Do you want to play a game?"

"I would rather watch House," She paused. "Well, Castle, but you don't like that show and I'm considering your feelings because you're hurt."

"I appreciate that." He said. He stood up and offered her a hand. "Come on. I would offer to make some tea but it seems that I can't do that anymore." Both of them looked at the cracked tea pot again and she sighed, taking his hand.

"Go and get it set up, I'll clean this up." He nodded and walked out the room and she eyed the pot. At least now she didn't need to figure out what to get him for Christmas.

 **I've decided that Saguru is the kind of guy that would be stubborn about any sort of injuries that he would have and would have low tolerance towards detective TV shows because of how long they would take to solve the case (just enjoy the drama, man).**

 **There was actually a squirrel at my old house that would pester my dog a lot, hanging on a branch** ** _just_** **out of reach for her to get. We would laugh and laugh and laugh... good times.**


	4. Day 4

**I'm sorry this is so late! I had issues with my computer and a splitting headache that wouldn't go away no matter what I took. Sooo two chapters in one day! Horrah!**

 **Day Four: Hospital Visits**

"Boo-yah! I _totally_ got you, Aaron!"

"No fair, you cheated!" Aaron frowned, setting the controller on his lap.

"Nope, it was fair and square shooting." Taylor laughed. "And I won with my superior skills."

"Bullying a child, are you that bored, Taylor?"

Taylor's face immediately brightened. "Saguru!" She cried out in excitement, turning in her wheelchair. "You're here!"

"Of course," He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit tired. You know, the doctor said that it's severe enough I might get to walk with a cane for awhile if my legs don't heal properly while I'm on crutches. Isn't that cool?" Taylor's grin increased.

"I suppose- but I doubt that you would want to be crippled for any longer than you have to. You're already getting antsy being cooped up here for so long." He pointed out.

Taylor gave him a look. "I know the seriousness of the situation, Saguru. Just play along, please?"

He sighed. "Canes are pretty cool. You can look pretty sophisticated with one."

Taylor grinned again, obviously wanting to point something out and finally getting the chance to say it to him. "Plus, you know, _cane guns_."

"You're not getting a cane gun." Saguru shot down immediately, back in business mode. She pouted and he placed an arm on either shoulder. "So it's not permanent?"

"No, it'll just take forever to heal." Taylor sighed again and leaned back. "Which will be a pain trying to get around school."

Taylor was part of a major car accident on the highway. She was just trying to get on her way back into town after shopping for birthdays when a car from the opposite lane swerved and crashed through the middle grass area and into her. The car was hit in the back, fortunately, but it still sent her spinning and crashing into another car, which in turn was hit by _another_ car. The highway entering Ekoda was shut down into one single lane.

Saguru thought his heart stopped when he heard about the accident. He rushed to the hospital and waited impatiently until he could see her, and then was forced to wait even longer as she was unconscious for days on end. He made many promises to her that he swore to keep if she woke up. Seeing her everyday was one of them, and that was exactly what he did, even when she was unconscious.

But now she was okay and mostly healed and willing to change the conversation. "I'm playing Aaron here in Mario Kart- he's convinced I'm cheating because I keep hitting him with green shells."

"Just accept your loss, kid." He said, looking at the young boy. He seemed to be about ten or eleven. "She always manages to do that. The most you can do is lay down a bunch of bananas, she'll always hit them."

Taylor gasped and lightly hit his arm. "Don't tell him that! I might not get first place now!"

"Good," Aaron grumbled. "Then _I'll_ get it."

"That's exactly the point! I'm gonna get first place as long as you don't get any more hints from my _dear_ boyfriend." She shot Saguru a glare.

"If you've managed so well so far then you should be fine."

"Except we just started."

"We're playing all of the levels," Aaron said, coughing slightly. "We just finished playing Rainbow Road. You wanna join?"

"I would rather sit and watch for now." Saguru said. He lifted up some packets. "I have some work that needs to be done anyway."

"Mmkay. Ooh, look, it's the treetop level!" Taylor exclaimed. "You know the secret passage in the tree?"

"Duh." There wasn't really a conversation between the two of them, only cheers and arguments whenever one got ahead of the other.

Taylor, however, felt that Saguru was being left out and didn't want that, even though he was fine without conversation. "Whatcha do all day, Saguru?"

"I solved a murder at the mansion on King Street. The master of the house died by poisoning." He replied, flipping through his documents. "The killer was-,"

"The butler?" He looked up and she motioned to Aaron with a grin. "Did the butler do it?"

"No, the daughter did." Aaron groaned and Taylor laughed.

"Get used to disappointments, kiddo. And you," She glanced at him. "You solved it kinda fast, don't ya think? You might have made a mistake."

"She confessed- and even if _that_ was fake I know the rest of the evidence wasn't. It was an easy case." Taylor fell off of the tree. It really was an easy case, ensuring that he would finish it fast enough to make visiting hours. The universe seemed to be on his side. He nearly laughed. If that sort of thing was real. "Did you get your homework done?"

"If I don't have to turn it in right away then I'm not going to do it." Taylor said, biting her lip as she concentrated on the game. Saguru sighed and took her controller, pausing the game. "Hey!"

"Aaron, you win by default." He set the controller down as Aaron cheered and Taylor objected. "Taylor, you have work to do."

"What? No! I don't wanna!" Taylor pouted. "Why can't I just stay here and play video games?"

"I don't think your college professors would take very kindly to that," Saguru said. "So you need to do your homework."

"Homework is boring."

"All you have to do yet is read a book. You got the rest of your homework done." _Because of me_ , he thought.

"Yes, but a really bad book." She sat up confidently. "When I'm a teacher I won't make my students read really bad books."

"You need to do your homework if you want to go through with your plans."

Taylor leaned her head back to stare at him. "Well, maybe if I have some motivation I can get into the mood to work."

"That's how it tends to work, yes."

"But not just any motivation- like, a kiss motivation."

"I don't think a kiss will get you motivated. In fact, it'll just probably get you distracted even more."

"Aw, you don't know that!" He pushed her into the room and helped her into bed.

"Yes, I do. That's exactly what happened last time I kissed you before you started to work- which was three days and thirteen hours ago." He pointed out. She groaned and leaned back into her pillows, extending her hand.

"Fine- gimme the damned book." She took it from him with false anger and flipped eight pages to where she previously was. Saguru picked up his work and was right about to sit down to work again when he paused.

"Taylor?"

"Hm?" He kissed her, soft and sweet and tasting like tea. She flushed and he pulled away.

"Get better soon." She nodded furiously and looked back down at her book, unable to concentrate on the words. "And I told you so."

She threw the book down onto the bed and he laughed.

 **Cane guns are the coolest thing to ever exist, besides for hidden rooms and underground pools you can look into from the basement.**

 **I would love to have a guy like Saguru making sure I can do my work on time. Maybe I'll finally get my work done on time and get everything done with my life that I wanted to get done.** **Scientists need to get stuff done on time.**


	5. Day 5

**I have, like, a billion scars from my childhood. I like to think that all of them have a special story to how they have gotten there, even if I can't remember them.**

 **Day Five: Scar Worship**

"Saguru, do you know where my white dress shirt is?"

"No." Taylor ran into his room and looked around. He looked up from his computer. "Why are you looking in here for it?"

"I might have left it in here," She answered. Saguru looked up from his desk and watched her run around in only her underwear; looking in his closet and under his bed. "Found it!" She said triumphantly, pulling the wrinkled shirt out and grinning at it.

Saguru sighed. "I can't believe you're only just now looking for it when we only have an hour until the concert." She grinned at him.

"Well, you know how I am- always doing things at the last minute." She stood up and stretched. "I have to go iron this now, so thanks for helping me find it."

"I didn't do anything." She laughed and turned out of the room, pausing when he told her to. "Wait, what's that?"

"What's what?" She asked, looking at herself. Did she forget to wash something off in the shower?

Saguru stood and walked over to her. "I'm not sure how I missed this so many times, but what's this scar right here?" She still looked confused so he lightly trailed a finger over a crescent shaped scar on her hip. She shivered at his cold hand.

"Uh," She paused to think. "I _think_ that was caused by a sledding accident. I ran into a tree and rolled down into the river."

He frowned and studied it. "It cut through your coat?"

"I never said it was during the winter. It was spring and raining- it was stupid, I know." She added when she saw the look on his face.

"As long as you understand that," Saguru said. "Turn, I want to see some more."

"You would think that with all the times we've had sex you would've noticed some." Taylor said, turning.

"I wasn't really looking for them, you know. I had other priorities at the time." He gave a sly smile and she shifted on her feet, feeling a little embarrassed even though she had no reason to be. "What other scars do you have?"

"Um- this one, right here?" She pointed to one on her inner thigh. "I burned myself. The same with this one on my arm here- both of them involve food, now that I think about it."

"Not as great as a chef as you are now, huh?" She scoffed.

"Nonsense- I just know how to follow a recipe. Unlike _someone_ I know." She grinned as he scowled.

"What else?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Uh... I have a _ton_ on my legs, but they happened when I was young and _probably_ when I was playing soccer." She turned and looked at him. "What about you?"

"What _about_ me?"

She put her hands on her hips. "C'mon, I know that you have some scars too! It's impossible to get through life without them- _especially_ in your line of work." She poked his stomach.

Saguru sighed. "You're right, I do have some." She looked at him expectantly. "You don't expect me to _show_ them to you, do you?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, you're going to be disappointed. I still have work to finish up and you have to finish getting ready for the piano rehearsal." He pointed out.

"Saguru!" She drawled out, leaning up against him. She knew that he wouldn't let her fall- not that he would fall with her weight on him. He's dealt with heavier stuff on him before. "C'mon, we have an hour yet! That's _plenty_ of time."

He sighed, pushing her back a little so he could unbutton his shirt. Taylor squealed in excitement and sat on his bed, waiting patiently. He sat his shirt and tie down next to her. "There's that one on my arm from the teapot incident- get that look off of your face, it's over and done with now."

"Sorry, didn't mean to." She said, leaning forward and examining his lean body with such intensity Saguru nearly felt like squirming on the spot. He didn't though.

"There's one right here from when I was a kid, I tumbled down a hill and landed on a few rocks." He said, pointing to his leg.

"Not so graceful then as you are now, eh?" She gave a cheeky grin, kicking her feet.

"Ha ha. So funny." Saguru deadpanned. He moved his arm and showed one on his bicep. "There was a man during one of my cases that didn't take too kindly to being called out on a murder. He got a few marks in before he was subdued."

Taylor stood and ran her fingers over the scar. "Have any others from him?"

"No, only this one and it's mostly faded by now." He said. "There's one on my stomach from a different case where I was almost pushed out a broken window."

She looked at him in shock. "What did you do for _that_?"

" _I_ did nothing. I was stuck at a mansion with other people- yes, it was one of _those_ cases- and I was the one that was targeted." He shrugged. "He thought that I was one of the weaker people there and he was wrong."

She lightly ran her finger over the scar, feeling the raised the skin under her finger. "Maybe if I kiss it it'll disappear."

"A magic kiss?" He teased.

"Mm-hmm." She hummed as she kissed it. "At least one of us has to have it and it can't be you- you're too perfect already." She kissed her way up his chest before pausing. "Well, except for your cooking skills."

"Yeah, yeah." Saguru said, grabbing her chin and tilting her to give her a kiss. "This was a wonderful conversation, but you still need to iron your shirt."

"You need to get dressed as well." Taylor sighed, pushing him backwards so she can have more room to move. "I want to leave in half an hour, so make sure you're dressed by then."

"No matter what you say, you always have to be early." He commented as he grabbed his shirt. "And I'd have you know that the only reason why I'm partly undressed is because of you."

She gave him a sly smile. "Yeah? Well at least now you can pick a different tie."

Saguru nodded before pausing. "What's wrong with my tie?" Taylor giggled as she walked out of the room. "Taylor? What's wrong with my tie? Taylor!"

She only laughed.

 **This layout looks a lot weirder on a computer than on a phone. Like, it doesn't flow as well, I think.** **How was I obsessed with reading it online and then hating to read it on the phone. It's the complete opposite now (I bet its because I can actually see the space between the paragraphs on my phone).**

 **I think it would be wonderful to point out and tell all of my scars to my significant other and if they do the same thing with me. It would be wonderful and emotional and a good bonding activity** **Maybe with a little something extra uh-hon-hon**


	6. Day 6

**This prompt is higher up on my list of favorites, simply because I make fun of my dear friends all of the time. Ahhh, memories.**

 **Day Six: Making fun of one another**

Saguru and Taylor were sitting at a bar, having a good drink and just enjoying each other's company. Taylor had finished a test a while ago and just got the results back: she had passed with the highest score in the class. They went out to celebrate and Taylor was telling Saguru about some of the people in her class.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that the guy is just a plain douche, no reasons at all. He just _is_." Taylor said, taking another drink of her whiskey.

"I don't believe that you can think that without reason." Saguru said. "There has to be a reason why you don't like him-"

"I don't like him because he's a douche!" Taylor cried out, swinging her hand for effect. But the hand she swung had her drink in it and it spilled on herself and the table.

They sat there in silence before Saguru sniggered. "I never knew you had a drinking problem, Taylor."

"Taylor scoffed, scooting closer to him to grab some napkins. "You're jokes are as good as your fashion sense."

"I think the girl that wears the same pair of pants everyday for a week shouldn't be giving me any advice on what to wear." He drawled.

"They don't get dirty, so I don't see the need to." 'She dabbed at her pants with the napkin, a coy smile on her face. "But you know, even with you dressed up as Sherlock Holmes I would still sleep with you."

"Me dressed up as Sherlock Holmes gets the girls coming to see me, then my great charm and wit seals the deal."

"Maybe some girls think that," Taylor said, glancing up at him. "I, however, don't think that's the case for me. I think your accent is pretty cute, though."

" **What accent?"** He asked in English. She grinned. " ** _This_** **accent?** "

" **The very one.** " She purred, leaning her head on his shoulder. He gave her a sly smile.

"I think if you judge a person by their accent then you can get into trouble." He warned her.

"Oh? Are you saying that I'm going to get into trouble with you?" She asked.

"You might already have, who really knows?"

"You might know." She paused. "Then again, you're cooking sucks. Could _that_ be the problem you were talking about?"

"Is the problem my cooking or your poor tea-making skills?"

"Careful, if you keep acting like that I might just make a great, big teacup." She motioned with her hands again, as if she didn't learn her lesson from a few minutes ago. "You see, all I need to do is gather all of your tea and throw it into the harbor. I learned _that_ little trick in American History."

"I feel as if that particular cup of tea would be _just_ a bit too cold." Saguru said.

"Just a bit too cold?" She teased.

"Just a little bit." Saguru repeated, grinning. "And a bit too weak, since there wouldn't be enough tea compared with the amount of water."

"Totally ignoring the fact that the water isn't purified?"

"The point is that I wouldn't drink the tea anyway." Saguru grabbed her hand and entwined their finger together. "Because you can never seem to make a good cup."

Taylor tightened her grip on his hand. "I'll decide to learn how to make a decent cup of tea once you decide to stop using my coffee cups for your tea."

"Maybe if you stop using my tea cups for other beverages I wouldn't use your coffee cups." Saguru shot back.

"I'm sorry, but ice cream with pop in a teacup is one of the best decisions I have ever made." Taylor said, not looking apologetic at all. Saguru gave a small chuckle and took a sip of his alcohol.

"While it _is_ good for the aesthetic look, it's not very practical. So you should use a bowl next time you want ice cream."

She scoffed. "Practical? Your car only has two seats. Tell me how _that's_ practical."

He opened his mouth and closed it again. "Alright, point proven."

"Damn straight."

 **I had the argument at the beginning with my mom when talking about Maleficent. She doesn't seem to understand that people can be evil just for the sake of being evil- there doesn't need to be a reason behind it. The people who don't have a reason behind it are the most badass people in my opinion.**

 **I could only date someone who can have conversations** **if that's what it's called** **with me like this where we can go back and forth and mock each other and not get upset over it. The best conversations, in my opinion.**


	7. Day 7

**The last time I had to deal with something like this was when my dog died last October** **RIP Wilson :'(** **and when my great grandma died two or three years ago. But then I had to think about how Saguru would deal with this, which was actually easier for me to write, even if he may or may not be on point** **fickle emotions and stupid detective that doesn't have enough screen time**

 **Day Seven: A Death of Someone Close**

He got his first Sherlock Holmes book when he was eight. He was young at the time, but he could have very easily read it at a younger age as well. He looked down at the book curiously. "What's this?"

"It's called _Sherlock Holmes,_ he's a detective that-"

"I know who Sherlock Holmes is." Saguru interrupted, but there was no look of cockiness on his face. He scanned the back cover. "Are you giving this to me?"

His aunt grinned at him. "Yeppers- would you believe that a friend of mine was going to throw it out? The nerve of her! Anyway, I took it off of her hands because I figured that you were going to want to read it. Am I right?"

"Yeah." Honey-brown eyes looked up and he smiled back at her. "Thank you, Aunt Terrie!"

Aunt Terrie ruffled her hand through his hair, to his dismay. "Aw, no sweat, kiddo. Just let me know when you're done and I can get ya another one, you hear?"

He finished it in less than a week, but she seemed to be expecting that. She seemed to have expected everything that he did. But he could have never expected that she was going to be gone so soon in his life.

" _Your Aunt Terrie died yesterday morning."_ His mother had said. " _The funeral is going to be in a week, after she's cremated. We would appreciate it if you came to join us, or if you at least helped set up for the funeral._

He got the call a few days ago. He didn't cry when he found out; he wasn't really emotional at all. He just promised that he would be there and hung up, continuing his work. To someone who didn't know him, they would think that he wasn't really impacted from the call at all.

However, Taylor knew him.

She could tell that he was upset at the death but she didn't pry. She just stuck around, spending more time with him than usual and talking about her schoolwork. He didn't mind; her presence was enough to help him feel a little better. He wasn't one to talk about his feelings anyway- neither of them were. But when she was so determined to be by his side to help him through the loss it was no surprise to him when Taylor marched in with a cup of his favorite tea and announced that she was going to the funeral with him. "After all," she had said. "I can just take my classes on my computer until we get back."

He had only nodded. "We're going to be leaving in two days,so I'd pack my bags if I were you."

The plane ride felt short, even though it was twelve hours long. Taylor spent the time talking with him and working on her homework. He helped her out with a few of the problems she was stuck with and debated over symbolism with her. She was determined to stay up for the whole trip, but blocked out when they turned off the lights to let the other passengers sleep. They had taken a later flight, after all.

Saguru stayed up the whole time, the silent plane allowing his thoughts to run wild, his mind remembering multiple facts about his late-aunt. And, for a second, he thought about waking up Taylor, hoping that her conversations would distract him from his thoughts. But he didn't.

 _"Aunt Terrie, why have you never gotten married?"_

 _"You think a husband could keep up with me? Ha! I can't even keep up with me on some days, so how could a man?"_

His family greeted them with open arms, his mother holding onto him tightly. "Thank you for coming." She said softly.

"I wouldn't have missed it." He answered. His parents took them to the lounging room to have tea together, telling Taylor all about his aunt. "She lived in France," Saguru told her. "She was the reason why I wanted to learn French in the first place."

"She sounds like she really inspired you." Taylor said, crossing her ankles and running a hand over her skirt. She had wanted to look nice when she saw his family again, even though he told her it wasn't necessary.

"She did. She's the one who believed in what I could do the most. You remind me of her sometimes." He paused and glanced at her. "She would have liked you a lot."

His mother excused herself at that point, and Taylor took it upon herself to change the topic to tea.

The funeral was small, and not something his aunt would have liked. She liked big, extravagant parties, he said, always wanting to be in the center of attention.

 _"Ugh. Look at these flowers, Saguru."_

 _"What's wrong with them?"_

 _"Just far too cliched for any sort of event." She winked at him. "Listen here: if you ever want to win over a girl's heart, buy her tulips instead. They practically mean the same thing, but tulips are much prettier."_

"She didn't like roses?"

"No- she despised them. She was more of an orchid kind of woman."

"I must agree- roses are a bit cliched for any sort of event." His heart clenched at those words. They stood there longer than the rest of the family, staring at the name on the grave. He wondered what she was thinking while he was remembering these moments he shared with his aunt. He swallowed before reaching out and taking her hand in his, entwining their fingers before giving a slight tug as he turned.

"Let's go back to the house- I want to show you something."

 _"Say cheese, Saguru!"_

 _"I don't see why you pulled me away from my homework just to get a picture."_

 _His aunt pouted, holding a camera in her hands. "Aw, don't be like that, pictures are fun! They mark what happens in history! For example- this picture is going to mark this exact moment in time, me standing here right next to you. Isn't that cool?"_

 _"I suppose so."_

"Aw, small Saguru was so cute!" Taylor cooed. Then she paused. "She's really pretty, is that your aunt?"

"That was my Aunt Terrie, yes." A photo album sat on the coffee table. They leaned over it, looking at all of his childhood photos and adoring them (Taylor did, anyway). This was the first picture that she had seen his aunt in. His aunt was giving him a side hug, holding him close. Saguru was frowning, seemingly irritated as he looked at his aunt. She had the same dark blonde hair he and his mother have and her dark eyes danced with laughter as she grinned.

"I've always thought that she was a graceful woman, always ready to jump into a new task." Saguru said. Taylor was silent, waiting for him to continue. "Another reason why she was like you."

" _Graceful_?" Taylor laughed. "I am in _no_ way graceful."

"Maybe not in the way you move around-" Saguru grunted as she gave him a small jab in the side. But he couldn't help but chuckle at the look on her face. "You said it first."

She flushed. "Well, yes, but still."

He couldn't help but smile in fondness as he continued. "But the way you do things, flowing smoothly from one topic to the next without missing a beat." He fell silent for a moment and his chest tightened. "Perhaps she could have taught you to be even more graceful, though, so you won't fall over so much." Taylor placed her hand on his and Saguru twisted his and held it again, leaning against her. "Thank you for coming with me." Taylor grinned and shifted so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you for letting me come with you."

 **I actually based both Taylor and Aunt Terrie off of me. Does that mean I killed myself off and then made myself comfort someone who is upset over my death? Talk about symbolism.**

 **And I know that a funeral is usually held, like, three days after the death of someone, but I figured that I** ** _might_** **be able to get away with it if she was cremated. Yes? No? Just ignore that part and focus on the feelings that were made during this part.**


	8. Day 8

**Am I ever going to post these at a decent hour?**

 **I've actually had the beginning of this written for a long time (less than a year is a long time now guys) and was actually going to use it for two different beginnings of chapters of the main story (which still isn't written my god when am I going to do that?) before I decided to use it for this.**

 **Sleeping in is nice and I swear if I don't sleep in this weekend there will be hell to pay.**

 **Day Eight: Sleeping in**

Saguru stirred, head still filled with dreams. He reached over to his phone to turn off the set alarm- or tried to, anyway. He couldn't really move his right arm. Or his leg for that matter. And his chest had some sort of weight on it. He opened his eyes and stared groggily at the blonde girl at his side, the sole reason for his predicament.

She was lying on his arm with hers set between them, lightly gripping his shirt. Her leg was between his, and her foot moved against his calf when she shifted. He turned and fumbled to turn off his alarm with his left hand. Then, he slowly started to untangle himself from her and the sheets.

Not slowly enough. Tired blue eyes peered through thick lashes to stare at him, seeing but unseeing at the same time. "Saguru," she murmured.

"Yes?" He asked, stopping immediately in his movements.

"Why are you getting up?" She yawned.

He was confused. "Why wouldn't I get up? I have work to do."

"You don't have to work today- it's Saturday. The glorious weekend has arrived." She said, tightening her grip on his shirt.

That's right, he realized. He must have lost track of the days this week while working on that case. He doesn't have to get up early if he doesn't want to. But on the other hand...

"I still have work that needs to be finished." He said, gently pulling her hand off his shirt. "I have to get it done."

"Work on it later," She said, trying to pull him back into bed with her other hand. "C'mon, neither of us has to get up super early today. We can make today a lazy day."

"I thought those were reserved for Sundays." He tried to make it into a teasing tone but failed in his tired state. He yawned.

"You can feel whether or not a day will be a lazy day; today is a lazy day." She gave another tug on his shirt. "Saguru, please?"

He sighed and scooted her over to lay back down. Taylor let out a pleased sound and buried her face in his side. He put his arm back down against her waist. "See?" She sighed. "Now all you have to do is go back to sleep."

"It's hard to do so when you're still talking." He said tiredly. She yawned again.

"I can't help it. You woke me up and got me talking." She moved so her head was in a more comfortable position against him, her calves moving against his as she shifted. "Now I need to talk."

"At six am."

She propped her chin on his arm, which was very uncomfortable for him. He told her that as he moved her but she still continued on as if he didn't do anything. "You get up at six? I always thought you got up later."

"You get up at six thirty. I'm always up before you, remember?" There was silence. "Taylor?"

"I remember." She said, smiling. "See? All of this sleep I didn't get is messing with my head."

"Then go back to sleep." He yawned again. The bed was really comfortable; he wondered why it didn't feel like this six hours ago. He shifted his position and Taylor let out a groggy groan.

"I _just_ said that I can't. I have to talk now because my mind is running too fast for me to fall asleep again. Jeez, you're an idiot when you just wake up." Saguru didn't say anything. In fact, his mind wasn't even in the same universe as hers. Mostly because she was still talking and he was pretty sure that she didn't even know what she was talking about at this point. He wasn't really listening either, for that matter. "Is that why you always wake up so early? I always thought it was to style your hair, but is it because you have time to get your mind working so you can sound smart for me? 'Cause that's really sweet."

Saguru's eyes were drooping. "Taylor," he breathed. Taylor looked up and she stared into eyes that were just as tired as his own. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss and watching her eyes close. "Stop talking and go to sleep."

"Mmkay." She murmured, resting her head back down. Saguru closed his eyes and made a mental note to never, _ever,_ wake her up early on a weekend _ever again_.

 **So I read over these prompts all the time (cause I like them a lot so I enjoy reading them) and I don't catch any of the mistakes until I'm copying them down on , which makes me wonder how tired** ** _I_** **was to have so many mistakes in this. Not my biggest edit so far, though, which goes to... day two. Maybe day four. I'm not sure, I change a lot when I copy it down. Think of it like an essay where you make your corrections and turn in your final copy after you revise your rough draft.**

 **I have two prompts that involve Saguru waking up and one that's a lazy day. (Sleeping is nice, ya'll.** **)** **And you know what? I totally accept sleeping in. Sleep in, my dear detective. It's late (cause I upload these late... but it's still day eight technically for another half an hour** **)** **and I just finished my first week back at school after winter break... I need to sleep. Nighty night~**

 **I kept yawning every time I wrote the word yawn... and all the words with 'z' in it I had to keep retyping because I couldn't manage to type it properly. I really need to sleep.**


	9. Day 9

**Starting to work on this at 10 at night because who wants this at a decent hour? Surely not my readers!**

 **I actually think that this is my favorite prompt out of the thirty days tbh. I had the most fun writing it and get the most satisfaction when I reread it and when I hope that when I type this up for its final draft I will enjoy it just as much.**

 **Now watch as I say the exact same thing with some other prompt down the list that I forgot about (actually pillow talk and seducing might be some of my favorites too even though I wrote them last and they were two of the top three to write hngg).**

 **Day Nine: Hugging**

Taylor and Saguru weren't a couple that cuddled or hugged a lot. Taylor always felt constricted and didn't enjoy it and Saguru never really cared for the action itself. The only time that they did was in bed, where they were too tired and never really cared, and when they were upset and needed to be comforted. And even then it was really awkward and uncomfortable for the person giving the action.

But there were times where they didn't notice they were hugging. When they were watching a show and got really excited about it and were sitting next to each other Taylor would wrap an arm around him without realizing it. Or when they were on a case and the power was cut to leave them in darkness (by Kid during a height, usually, so this happened often- even more so once he noticed the action that was made) Saguru would reach out and pull her closer.

Right now Taylor's family was going to come and visit them. Saguru was sitting downstairs watching her rush around the house, trying to make everything perfect for their arrival. He had tried to help only for her to snap that he wasn't putting anything in the right place so he should just sit down and not move. He did as told.

He sighed, realizing that he couldn't move from this position or he would get yelled at. He didn't even have a book with him to keep him occupied.

"I don't know why you always make a big deal about them coming. It's not like they can force you to move back to America- you're a grown adult now." He said, leaning his face against his hand.

"No, but this _is_ their vacation home and it needs to be in its perfect state that it was always in." Taylor explained. "My family is a perfect family and it needs to stay perfect- especially in looks. We always need to keep up the facade that we are a happy family, and that includes laughing together and-" she paused and shuddered. "-hugging. Lots and lots of hugging."

"That sounds horrible." He said dryly.

"It is. It feels like a boa constrictor is wrapping around me." She responded, setting down a vase with fresh flowers and backing up to stare at it. "How does that look?"

"Fine." He said, giving it a once-over. "Have you tried to get used to hugging?"

"I've been hugged all my life. It's uncomfortable for me, I can't help it." Taylor's stare turned into a small glare as she studied the picture above the mantle, trying to determine whether it was crooked or not.

"Does that include the ones from me?"

"Those don't count." She had a small jolt of surprise when Saguru's arms wrapped around her waist and his chin rested on her shoulder. _When did he get up?_

"Really?" He mused. "So this doesn't count as hugging?"

Usually whenever he does this he kisses her neck. Then it generally leads to something more... _intimate._ But right now he wasn't doing anything but resting his head next to hers and staring at the same family portrait she was. And she could honestly say that she didn't mind the innocent feeling of his arms wrapped around her. She could even say that she liked it.

She placed her hands over his, leaning backwards against him. "It does." She said slowly.

"And does it bother you?" He questioned.

"It doesn't seem like it." She admitted. She could tell that he was smirking in arrogance as he leaned his head _slightly_ to the left so it was leaning against hers.

"Oh?" He inquired. "And why do you think that is?"

"Dunno. Maybe if you start gushing on and on about how you miss me and that I should visit more." She recommended with a small laugh.

" **Oh** **Taylor!** " He said immediately in English. She bit her lip as she smiled. " **You're always on my mind and I miss you** ** _so_** **when you're not sleeping next to me. You should come and visit me more often, especially since you can't sleep by my side for the full week that your parents are here because it's not 'proper'.** "

Taylor laughed. "Alright, if it'll make you feel better I'll come over to your place tonight."

"That _would_ make me feel better." He agreed. "But back to the original topic: how does this hug make you feel after me gushing on about how I miss you?"

She sighed. "It feels fine. It's just the hugs by others, I suppose."

"Or maybe it could be the fact that I'm your boyfriend and you're already comfortable with the feeling of me touching you." He recommended.

"What? No." She said sarcastically. "That couldn't _possibly_ be the reason why." He let a low hum in response.

"The picture is slightly crooked." He said.

"I knew it!" Taylor hissed, turning to move out of his arms. Saguru tightened his grip to stop her and she turned to him in confusion. "What?"

"Just so you know," he said, staring at her with honest-filled eyes. "I didn't mind the hug either."

Taylor grinned and kissed him.

 **I still liked this prompt after it was finished with its final draft. Score!**

 **But while I was writing this draft I remembered one of my later drafts that comes as a close second for being my favorite ones (I like my later drafts much better than my earlier ones). And we're a third of the way being done with these thirty prompts! Woo-hoo!**

 **I have no idea what I'm going to do once I'm done. I should probably find thirty more prompts to write about this and make another one. But whatever I do, it probably won't be writing the main story for these two characters (but I plan on writing about them in** ** _high school,_** **and then a** ** _sequel_** **when they're** ** _older_** **and I have to make up a bunch of** ** _cases_** **, it'll be hard work man).**

 **But whatever, we'll find out in twenty days!**


	10. Day 10

**Whaaat? I have this uploaded at a decent time? Astonishing (Seven pm is still not as decent as it could be).**

 **I'm** ** _supposed_** **to be finishing my math and chemistry homework, but hey, I wanted to upload this next prompt for you guys because I care about my readers (totally not because I just don't want to work on my projects I mean what).**

 **Day Ten: Watching the Other Sleep**

Before he met Taylor, Saguru had a strict schedule. It was a schedule that was kept after he started dating her and was still kept on the days she didn't sleep over.

At six-thirty exact he would wake up and take a shower, and then he would go downstairs and watch the news- though he wouldn't fully pay attention to it- until the water would be ready for his morning tea. He would have breakfast at seven and be out the door at seven-thirty to make it to his job at eight. It was his schedule for years and it worked for years.

Then Taylor spent the night.

His schedule had to be changed to include her into it. Instead of waking up at six-thirty he would have to wake up at six to make sure she would have enough time in the bathroom. He would watch the news for a longer period of time until he could start the morning tea so he could still have warm tea for breakfast, which she didn't eat because it made her feel nauseous. Then he would have to leave at seven-twenty so he would be able to drop Taylor off at school and make it to his work on time.

If her father just let her use a car then this would be much easier on both of them. But they had to make it work, he supposed.

Then everything got pushed back two minutes and thirty seconds when Saguru found out he liked to do something every morning. Something that was found by complete accident, but was only his to do that no one would _ever_ find out about.

That morning at five fifty-seven Saguru turned off his alarm and turned to the woman who shared his bed that night. Taylor slept facing him, her blonde hair spilling out over the pillows and a peaceful look on her face. The sheets lay on her waist, moved when he sat up, showing her bare body to him. She was breathing evenly through her pink lips; her eyelashes long and dark against her slightly tanned skin.

This, he told himself, as he did every morning, was the reason why he decided to wake up early. All day long he worked on cases of murder or missing people or sometimes thieves that showed him the horror of the world. But Taylor's sleeping face was one of the few things that reminded him that there was innocence in the world as well.

 _I could get used to this._

Saguru frowned as soon as he had that thought. He had no doubt that it could work between them. But for how long? His job would sometimes make him travel for days on end- especially if he was trapped at some house with no way to leave. _That_ seemed to happen quite a bit. Would he be able to take her with him on those trips? Would she be able to wait for that long if he couldn't take her?

Taylor shivered and he pulled the sheets just a bit higher for her. She shifted and moved them herself before getting comfortable again with a soft sigh. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, letting his fingers linger afterwards.

He thought about the Sleeping Detective and how he always seemed to bring along his daughter and that kid. Then again, he thought to himself with an amused smile, he didn't really _bring_ them to the deaths as the deaths seemed to _come_ to him. But either way, both children were brought into dangerous situations and seemed to make it out okay. Taylor is smart and fully capable of handling herself in hazardous situations. She has helped him on same cases as well, so it would be a benefit.

But she couldn't just step away from her own work. She was studying to be an English teacher and _enjoyed_ studying to do what she wanted to do with her life. She wouldn't be able to come with him whether she wanted to or not. No doubt she would be disappointed that she couldn't come, but she would get over it.

...Right?

She had expressed multiple times about how much she hated that her father was always gone and was never around much. If they _do_ end up getting married, perhaps having children, what would that be like? Having a father that has to leave early and wasn't around as much as often as anyone wanted them to would be awful for anyone to deal with, especially a _child_. He thought about his father and how he was often out of the house through all stages of Saguru's life. His father was still a major part of his childhood, though. And Taylor's father was the head of the police too. Saguru himself was still only a detective.

A very popular detective in more than one country.

He stopped and had to give a small laugh at his thoughts. Marriage? Children? What was he even _thinking_ right now? They haven't even moved in together, for Christ's sake!

He pulled his hand away and got out of bed. He was just too tired and needed a shower to wake up, is all. That's why he was having these absurd thoughts.

But no matter how many times he told himself that, he could never fully convince himself.

 **I feel like I relate to Saguru a little. When I'm older I want to be a scientist- a biochemist to be exact. I'm going to set my hours high if I can to keep myself occupied, and I'm afraid I would prioritize my work over family. I do that now as a high schooler as well. What will that do for my marriage? Not children because I don't want children, but still.**

 **I think this is one of my top prompts too. I really enjoyed writing and rereading it and I hope you did too. :)**


	11. Day 11

**I love drawing, but I love writing angst and destroying my best friends feelings even more. True friendship, ladies and gentlemen, is destroying each other's feelings (in a loving way).**

 **Day Eleven: Drawing each other**

"Why are we doing this again?" Saguru asked, eyeing her warily.

"Aoko said that this was a bonding exercise between couples." Taylor answered, handing him a pencil and a sketchpad. "I don't really believe it, but it's really popular right now and is now expected of us since we're couples." She paused. "Plus I can't say no to Aoko."

"No one can." He took the items. "But why do we have to do what's expected of us? You didn't with your father." He realized what he said immediately after he said it and gave her an apologetic look as she glared at him. "I am so sorry."

"Teaching kids a foreign language is something that my father should be quite proud of me doing." She huffed, opening her sketchpad to a fresh page, but otherwise ignoring his comment. "And if we don't do this then Aoko and Kaito will be on our case, and I really don't want them coming over right now."

"We could always say that we did it."

"And lie to dear Aoko?" She asked, shocked. "No way- plus Kaito would know that you're lying. Just know that I don't want to do this as much as you do."

"Come on, at least you're better at drawing than I am." Saguru scoffed, leaning back against the leg of the couch.

"True, but I'm not good at drawing actual people. I'm more of an abstract drawer and drawing girls." Taylor said. "Since for some reason boys are hard to draw."

He sighed. "Fine. How much of one another do we have to draw?"

"I assume that just a torso shot is fine." She said, already scratching away at the paper.

"Any style is fine?" He stared at the pencil in his hand, unwillingly putting it to the paper.

"Well, I _assume_ that it's meant to be realistic. But realistic sucks so I'm not doing that." Taylor glanced at him and then back down at the paper. "I had an art teacher that wouldn't allow us to draw in an anime-like style 'cause that's stealing the artist's art style."

He lightly marked on the paper. "Aren't you taught in school to paint like Vincent Van Gogh?"

"I think it doesn't count 'cause, you know, he's dead. He can't get mad." She crocked her head and tilted the page. "But seriously, it's a high schooler's art work. Who would look at that and think 'oh, they're using my style. I'm going to sue them for all their worth'?"

"Obviously a teacher would do that." He murmured , glancing up at Taylor and then erasing at the paper.

"Obviously _this_ specific teacher would think- okay, what the hell is up with your hair? Why the hell is your hair styled like that?"

"What's wrong with my hair?" Saguru asked, appalled.

"Have you _seen_ your hair? Tell me, how long does it take to style it in the morning? Is that why you always take so long in the bathroom in the mornings?" Taylor asked, pointing her pencil at him accusingly.

"My hair is naturally styled like this, just so you know."

"So to draw the sides and the top of your hair I draw stairs. Got it." She decided, scratching at the paper once more.

"No! It's not like that at all!"

"Well I would try and draw it wet, but that wouldn't do anything to the hair, which is what I need to have changed." She chewed on the eraser end of the pencil as she stared at him in thought.

"Well, like _your_ hair is even better. What kind of person has bangs that floof around like yours?" He argued.

She stared at him. "Did you seriously just use the word 'floof'?"

"Well what other word would I use to describe it? Look at it- it's all... poofy." He motioned to it with his pencil.

"Others would use the work fluffy, but okay." Taylor shrugged. "But unlike yours, my hair will lay flat when it's wet. Remember- it turns brown when damp too."

"I'm not drawing you wet." Saguru grumbled. "I'm drawing you exactly how you look right now." He looked down at the doodles. He honestly had no idea what he was doing, with a messy circle for a head and straight lines for hair. He erased at it again.

"Well, have fun with that," she said. "While I sit across from you and _also_ have fun with what I'm doing."

"I don't think either of us are having fun with this."

"You're right, I hate drawing actual people." She admitted, grinning. "You're no exception."

They sat in silence for a minute or two before Saguru noticed something. "Why aren't you glancing at me?"

"Hmm?"

"You aren't looking at me. That's a requirement if you're drawing me, correct?" He repeated.

"I would assume it is." She replied, looking at him. But it wasn't a glance and then back down at the paper; she actually set her pencil down and was looking at him while he was speaking.

"Then why aren't you?" He accused.

"Uh..." Saguru stared at her and she shifted nervously. "I..."

"Let me see your drawing." He said, holding a hand out for the sketchpad.

"Uh, no, I think that's okay." Taylor said, leaning back and moving the paper behind her.

"I don't think so." Saguru said, leaning forwards on his knees to grab it.

"Saguru, no, you don't need to see it- oomph!" Taylor had leaned back even further to get it away from him but had lost her balance and fell backwards. Saguru was leaning above her now, arms on either side of her head. She blushed with him being so close to her and staring at her so intently.

"See? This position wouldn't have happened if you just gave me the sketchpad." He mused, looking down at her.

"Or if you didn't reach for it." She offered, giving him a nervous grin. Saguru gave her a cocky one in return and leaned down to kiss her. She automatically closed her eyes, waiting for the feeling of his soft lips on hers. But it never came. She opened her eyes again to see Saguru sitting up and looking at the picture she drew. Hey!"

"You didn't even _draw_ me!" He accused. "You started to, but when you got to the hair you drew _stairs_."

"I told you that I was!" She shot back.

"No, it's not even the design of the hair. You drew _actual stairs_ on the side of my head!"

"Well what was I supposed to do?" She questioned.

"Then you stopped and drew some other doodles on the side of the paper!" He paused. " _Why_ did you put 'angry Brit' in all caps with an arrow pointing to the side of my head?"

"Uh." Taylor said. "I didn't actually expect to show it to you."

He deadpanned. "What do you think the point of this exercise was?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She scoffed, crossing her arms. "Well, I showed you mine, you need to show me yours."

"I need to do no such thing!" Saguru argued, setting her sketchbook aside to grab for his own. She sat up and they were nose-to-nose again.

"I believe you do." She disputed. "It's only fair, right?" Saguru sighed, handing her his sketchbook and giving in much easier than she had. Taylor tilted her head. "Well, it's better than some of the kids in my class."

"Don't joke around, it sucks." Saguru grumbled. Taylor laughed.

"Yeah, it does." She agreed, setting the sketchbook aside and putting her arms around his neck. "But I _have_ seen worse. Have you ever seen high schooler's drawings?"

"Yes." He said, putting her hands on her sides. She gave a cheeky smile and leaned in to give him a quick kiss. He leaned his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. "I saw no point to this exercise."

"Neither did I." She laughed. "Do you wanna watch TV?"

"As long as there's something good on." They stood and left the room, sketchbooks left forgotten on the floor.

 **Uuugh... this was so hard to type up again simply because** ** _my fingers won't type correctly on the keyboard. It. took. FOREVER._ I think it's the longest one I've wrote so far too.**

 **If you watch the anime, Saguru's hair totally looks like stairs. I know how it's** ** _supposed_** **to look like based on a real life hairstyle, but I state it how I see it. And it's complete bullshit to draw.**


	12. Day 12

**For the first time this school year my school canceled do to snow. I have so many projects to get done I think this is a sign that God is real.**

 **But am I going to** ** _do_** **those projects? Psh. No. I'm going to do exactly what our dear couple is doing today, because I feel the same way they do.**

 **Day Twelve: Having a lazy day**

Saguru leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the computer screen. He had tried- he really did! But no matter what he did he just _couldn't_ get his mind to focus on his work.

He spun around in his chair for a few moments and tapped his pencil on his desk. All of his pencils were sharpened to a point and were separated from his pens. His desk was clear of any clutter and everything was organized alphabetically. He spun again and looked at his bookcase. He had organized it three times- alphabetical, then to height, and then back to alphabetical.

And it was only ten in the morning.

He had nothing left to do and his work, for once, just didn't interest him today.

He stood up and walked out to the living room. Taylor sat at the piano with her head resting on some of the keys; one hand absentmindedly pressing a few notes before falling back to her side. Her gaze rose to meet his once he was in her view. "Hey." She said.

"Hey." He said back, lounging on one of the couches. "Can't get your mind to work?"

"No," she sighed. "Everything just seems boring today." He let out a low hum, flicking through the channels on the TV. "Anything good on?"

"No."

They sat in silence, the only noise coming from the commercials. Saguru had given up on trying to find anything good and left it on some drama. "You know what today is?" Taylor asked, yawning.

"How about you enlighten me." Saguru commented, resting the back of his head on the armrest and closing his eyes.

"It's a lazy day." She lifted her head off the keys and scooted the bench back. "I'm going to go get changed for the occasion. You don't look very comfortable, so why don't you get changed back into your pajamas."

He let out another hum, but otherwise didn't move. He listened as Taylor softly walked up the steps and opened and closed her bedroom door with a soft ' _click_ '. He laid there for a minute before slowly rolling off the couch and onto his feet. Then he walked upstairs and almost ran into Taylor when she was walking out at the same time he was entering his room. She was wearing an old shirt of his and a pair of elastic sweatpants he kept forgetting he brought over.

"Go pick a movie for us to watch." He said. Taylor's eyes brightened immediately.

"Alright." She chirped, a skip in her step as she walked back downstairs. It didn't take him long to change into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, so he was back in less than a minute.

"What are we watching?" He asked, laying back down on the couch while she curled up in her chair.

" _Up_ ** _._** " She replied.

"A cartoon?" He deadpanned.

"A _good_ cartoon." She corrected, pressing play and watching the opening start before squirming. "I need a blanket."

"Then get a blanket." He said, staring blankly at the screen and resisting another yawn.

"No! The beginning is the best part!" She exclaimed. "I can't just _leave_ during it."

"Then pause it."

"And drop the buildup of their marriage? No way." She scoffed.

Saguru sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Taylor."

"I don't expect you to tell me anything." She drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch and her eyes shone with an idea. "I know! Duke, come here, baby boy!"

Duke was lying on his bed by the door. He stared at her with the same amount of energy that Saguru felt. But as Taylor kept calling him he slowly got up and started walking towards them.

"What a good boy," Taylor cooed. "does my dear baby want to cuddle with me- _no!"_ Taylor watched in complete agony as Duke walked past her to hop up on the couch to lie at Saguru's feet. They stared at him for a moment before Saguru looked at her. He gave a sly smile. She glared at him. "Don't you dare."

"Well, Taylor-"

"Saguru, no-"

"-it looks as if you weren't-"

"I dare you to finish that sentence, you-"

"-good enough for your dog." Her glare turned sharp while Saguru lightly rubbed Duke's fur with his foot. He looked back to the movie. "I am deemed the chosen one whilst you are thee rejected one."

Taylor bit her lip before speaking slowly. "I have another dog."

"Wilson won't come no matter how much he is called, _especially_ when he's sleeping." He shot down. "Just get up and grab a blanket from your room."

She groaned and leaned her head back on the seat. Then she let out a nervous laugh and he raised an eyebrow. "There's a blanket on the back of the chair."

He gave her a tired smirk. "I think someone needs a nap."

"I think someone needs to shut his face and watch the damn cartoon."

 **It's a lazy day as I write this, and I wasn't really into this one. I think you can tell (especially after this comes out after a longer chapter). I don't really want to edit this, but I uploaded it before noon, so that has to account for something, yes? Yes.**

 **Wilson is my dog that died the October of 2014, my sophomore year in high school. He will forever live on in my stories, as old and slow and lazy and loving as he was in real life. Live on, my dear puppy.**


	13. Day 13

**When I was a little girl, my favorite princess was Cinderella. Now she's my second favorite, though my favorite now is Belle. I loved fairy tales and romances as a kid, went through a weird phase where I hated them and was into angst, and now I'm back while loving all three. Fun.**

 **Day Thirteen: In a Fairytale**

Two villagers by the names of Taylor and Saguru were lost in the woods.

"Let us go and follow this path; we are sure to find a village if we do!" Taylor said excitedly.

"No- it would be far easier if we just went back the way we came." Saguru argued.

"We already tried that and it did not work. Let us just keep going and we will be more than likely to run into someone!" She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a loaf of bread. "Look- I took this from that damned villager earlier that called me a witch. Let us leave a trail!"

"A trail that is sure to be eaten by birds." He drawled.

"You got any better ideas, you dunce?" She shot back. He frowned and sighed, motioning for her to go ahead with her plan. She grinned and broke off piece by piece as they walked until she had no more bread left. They looked at her empty hands. "So maybe this was not as good as a plan as I thought."

Saguru looked farther down the path and his face brightened. "Do not worry about it, dear Taylor, for I think I see a house up ahead!"

Taylor's face lightened as well as they ran up above the hill. There they saw a house made of gingerbread with white icing holding it together, peppermints acting as the sidewalk, and lifesavers as windows. It looked wonderful to the two young adults whose stomachs were starting to hurt with hunger.

"I am rather hungry," Saguru said, turning towards her. "But I feel as if this is some form of witchcraft that is causing us to see things that are not really there."

Taylor nodded. "It is rather suspicious." Her eyes darted between him and the house. "Shall we go back?" He nodded, taking her hand and leading her back the way they came.

Taylor lifted her pen from the paper. "That doesn't seem right."

"It doesn't," Saguru agreed. "Let's try again."

There was a princess with beautiful, long blonde hair. She was terribly lonely up in her tower held high, for she had no one there with her. She was taken from her parents from a very young age by an enchantress and was forced to say in the tower, so she therefore had no friends to call her own.

The only one that visited her was the enchantress, who would call for her when she wanted up, saying: "Taylor, let down your hair!" She would use Taylor's hair as a ladder to get up, and at the end of the day would use it to get down as well. But the time spent between was used to listen to the princess play music that was almost as beautiful as her on a piano with delicate ivory keys. "Play this piano for me, my dear, and let me enjoy the pleasant sound it makes."

One day a young prince heard the music and decided that he wanted to find the source of the striking music. He spent days in secret watching the enchantress come and go and noted the days she didn't come at all. On that day, when he was positive that the enchantress wouldn't come, he darted to the bottom of the tower. "Taylor," he called. "Let down your hair!"

Taylor looked out the window in confusion. "I don't know you," she yelled back. "So how do you know the method to get up here?"

"I watched and figured it out myself," he explained. "I wanted to find the beauty that played the enchanting songs."

"Well, you found her." Taylor responded, narrowing her eyes. He seemed to be quite... cocky. "And she is quite content with her hair up here."

The prince was taken aback. "Do you know who I am?" He demanded.

"I couldn't really care less," Taylor admitted. "Stranger danger, you know."

"Well, let's not be strangers!" He recommended. "I know your name, but my name is Prince Saguru!"

"Well, my prince, if you managed to figure this method to get up I'm sure you can find another." She grabbed the shutters to the window. "Until then, I'll be sleeping." She pulled them shut, leaving a gaping prince standing at the bottom. Then he turned angry, turning on his heel and stomping back to the castle. He had things he needed to do, and dealing with a woman who showed no respect was not one of them.

Saguru laughed. "That doesn't seem right either."

"I don't think fairy tales work with modern day people." Taylor leaned back and tapped her pencil on the desk. "Or rather, I think it's _us_ that's the problem."

He leaned on his knuckles. "Well, let's try one more- just a scene this time, I have work I need to finish."

She groaned. "Work, work, work." She sat up, her pencil dancing on the page as she grumbled: "Fine, you want a scene? I'll write a scene."

Saguru sat at the window, staring off into the distance at an old lady that was walking towards the cottage. "How odd," he mused to himself. "Why would an old woman journey out so far into the woods?" He himself had gotten lost multiple times when trying to find his way back to the village- not that he wanted to, since the king was out for his head after finding out he was better fit to rule than he was.

"Excuse me!" The woman called out when she was closer to the window. "Are you familiar with this forest?"

"I can't say that I am," Saguru called back, inwardly frowning when she walked up to him anyway. On the outside, however, he was smiling a pleasant, polite smile like he was taught to as a kid.

The old woman sighed. "That's too bad. Can you at least tell me what direction the town is? I'm afraid that this forest is a maze within a maze."

"I believe it may be in that direction over there." Saguru pointed back at the way the woman came. "There's a mine in that direction as well, so there should be miners that can tell you more."

"I see," The woman mused as she followed his point, wincing as she shifted on her feet.

Saguru really frowned this time. "Have you been walking long?" He asked.

"Yes, and walking for long isn't very good for a frail, old woman like myself." She looked at him again. "Would you mind if I come inside and rest? In return I can give you this," she dug through the basket she was carrying and pulled out a shiny, red, plump apple.

He eyed the apple before smiling a grin that was far too radiant to be natural. "I would love that. However, I must decline. I have a king that's after my head and it doesn't surprise me that he sent a witch to kill me for him." The woman went to object and he interrupted her. "And I know that you're a witch because an old woman wouldn't journey this far into the woods, lost or not. This cottage is miles out of the way of the town and is cleverly hidden by the thick amount of trees." He motioned to the fruit. "The apple is poisoned, isn't it? You're trying to kill me by poisoning me with an alias of innocence."

"I don't-"

"I'm afraid that I don't have time to argue with you, since I know I'm right. Have a good day." Saguru grabbed the windows and closed them, pulling the blinds shut a few seconds later and leaving an astonished woman outside that was swearing vengeance on him.

Taylor burst out laughing as Saguru gave her an exasperated look. "You're insane."

"Aw, come on! We both know that if that happened to you that would be _exactly_ what you would say!" She giggled and wiped at her eyes. "We don't fit in anywhere, we're too smart to fall for anything that the heroines did."

"We can't make a fairy tale because it's meant to have unquestionable magic in it." He agreed. "Unlike the stories, we believe in too much logic for it to work."

She stood up and brushed her hands off on her jeans, still giggling. "Very true. Well, this was fun, thanks for trying to help me with my homework, but I'm gonna go downstairs and watch _Castle_ or something. Have fun getting back to your work."

"I wouldn't have to get back to my work if you didn't interrupt me in the first place." He drawled, stretching. She only laughed again before leaving the room. He spun in his chair and faced his computer, hands ready to type before pausing. "That's odd," he mused. "I could have sworn I still had eight pages of work left." All of the work he had left to do was done perfectly, giving him the rest of the day off. And he had no idea how it happened.

There was a giggle. Saguru instantly turned and leaped to his feet, looking around for the noise. The room was empty. He sighed. He must have imagined the laugh and forgotten that he finished the work while he was writing with Taylor.

"Saguru! I found a movie I think you'll like, so ignore your work and come watch it with me!"

"Coming!" He called back, turning off the lights as he left the room with a soft _'click'_.

 **Fun fact: my mom wouldn't let me say the word 'cocky' when I was in middle school because it had the word 'cock' in it. She didn't know that I was cursing on paper though, like I do now (I don't curse in real life, but if you notice, I put swears in my stories ;) )**

 **Another fun fact: This was nearly 2,000 words. Enjoy the longest prompt so far! There may or may not be longer ones (and shorter ones) on the way for the upcoming prompts!~**

 **Another long chapter for my dear readers! The last fairy tale was my favorite rewritten story; I loved writing Saguru as Snow White! But I could** ** _totally_** **write a full story with Taylor as Rapunzel and Saguru as a prince if I wanted to. I want to, but I probably won't. Or I will and just won't post it. Either way, you guys aren't getting your main story. Whoopsie.**


	14. Day 14

**Uuuugh, my computer was giving me** ** _so_** **many problems before I started this prompt. It crashed (it's old, so it probably overheated), and while the internet is quick to open, Microsoft Word is** ** _not._**

 **Jeez, I need a new computer. I'll save up for that if I ever get a job.**

 **Day Fourteen: Geeking out over something**

"Saguru!" Taylor called out, running through his house to the dining room. "It came! It came!"

"What came?" Saguru asked, looking up from his newspaper, watching her practically bounce in her place in her position by the doorway. His eyes narrowed. "Wait, were you looking through my mail?"

She stopped and bit her lip. "Yes- but that's not the point!" She shook her head and showed her his mail. "The game came!" She didn't wait for a response before she ran into the living room. She probably didn't want to hear the repercussions of her actions.

But Saguru wasn't focused on that anymore. His tired mind was trying to sort through all of the information he had on games before he realized what she was talking about. He drank the rest of his tea in one gulp and leapt to his feet, dashing to the living room.

"The game came?" He asked. She was squatting in front of his gaming system (something he only had because of her, mind you), the wrapping of the case sitting on the floor next to her. She probably wasn't going to clean it up, he thought, unless he forced her to later.

She nodded her head rapidly. "The game came!" She repeated. She pushed the game in and joined him on one of the chairs. She handed him the controller and sat in between his legs. His arms wrapped around her in a hug so he could hold the controller in front of her, their feet resting on the footstool as they watched the game start up.

Saguru has connections that he has made during his time as a detective. One of the men he worked with was a video game creator that was working on a game between Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper. Saguru immediately jumped on the idea and was now one of the few people that owned the game a few days before its actual release.

Sherlock Holmes fans should be jealous.

Taylor was a major fan of Jack the Ripper as well. "Not that I like serial killers," she quickly explained to him after he gave her a deadpanned look. "I just think it's astonishing that a man can kill so many people and still get away with it, even after all of these years! You have to admit that it's _fascinating_!"

"Well, they didn't have the scientific equipment that we do now- it was the nineteenth century, after all." He told her. She only shrugged.

Now, months later, they sat in front of the TV ready to play the game. Saguru rested his chin on her head and shifted to a more comfortable position. "Are you looking forward to it?"

He felt her head move as she nodded. "Yeah- I have no idea who I want to win, though."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a great detective that's a _genius_ verses a man who managed to kill these women without getting caught." She paused. "Okay, I want JTR to win."

His arms tightened. "Are you _serious_? You want the bad buy to win?"

"He has a reputation to hold up!" She exclaimed. "Of course he has to win! Oh- play as third person."

He picked the option. "That doesn't matter! You do know that we're playing as Holmes, right? You're going to help me catch him."

Taylor groaned and leaned her head back against him. "Do we have to?"

Saguru grinned. "You know, he might get away- I mean he won't, since this is Holmes that we're talking about- but he might just for fans like you."

"Calling us fans is a bit weird, don't you think?"

"What would you call yourself then?"

It took her a moment to respond. "A person who has a fascination with past serial killers." She felt his chest rumble as he laughed.

"Sure, let's go with that title." The introduction scene started and Taylor let out a low whistle.

"That's amazing graphics." She commented. "How long did it take for him to make this?"

"Two to three years." He answered. "Let's just hope that the actual game play is as good as the intro scene."

"It would suck if it didn't- wait, is that Sherlock's voice?" She asked, her body shaking in excitement as she listened to the narration. "Jesus Christ, his voice is amazing!"

"Why does it seem like you always like fictional character's better than real people?" He questioned. She was right though- Sherlock Holmes' had a great voice actor.

"You mean: 'why do you like fictional characters better than _me'_?" Taylor teased, looking up at him and giggling at his exasperated face. "My dear, you have wonderful qualities and all, but nothing can compare to those of the fictional universe." She motioned to the screen. "But the voices only sound good as fictional. If I heard that voice in the real world I would be a bit freaked out." She pat his knee in affection. "So I'm perfectly happy with how your voice sounds- _lookie! It's Jack!_ "

"I know, I'm playing the game." Saguru drawled before pausing. "The amount of detail put into this game is extraordinary."

"I know! I mean, I've seen better, but this is still pretty high up on the list." She tilted her head back to look at him again. "Hey, you should take me to London!"

"Maybe one day," he told her. "Here- we can finally start playing the game now. If we play right, we can beat the game before the weekend ends."

"Let's do it! I want to see what they're going to do with him!" She exclaimed before thinking aloud with her next sentences. "Are they going to just pin it on a man? Or are they going to have him just disappear?"

"Well, my dear Taylor," he started. It was Taylor's turn to have the exasperated look. "You're just going to have to wait and see."

Saguru grinned when he saw Sherlock and Taylor let out an excited laugh when the first murder was shown. They argued over the puzzles and he pulled detective modes that made her stick her tongue out at him in mock irritation. He got really excited when Sherlock made references to past cases and she mocked Watson whenever she could.

"How did you know the answer?" Saguru asked her once she answered Sherlock's question.

"It's amazing what you can find on the internet." She answered, waving him of and not going into any more detail. He pondered whether or not he should be worried about what she finds. "Anyway- onto the killer!"

They stayed up the whole night and finished the game. Then they looked at each other and played it again.

 **There is an actual game of Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper. It was made in 2009, but I made up a new version where it has better graphics, almost like the 2014 game of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (I completely watched it when writing these chapters at three in the morning during the summer). In fact, there should be a new game this year! I'm so excited to see the better graphics!**


	15. Day 15

**Woo-hoo! Halfway there, everyone!**

 **God, this chapter man. It may or may not be uploaded late, cause I needed to do** ** _serious_** **research and references to other fanfictions I read. I mean, have you ever thought about how weird kissing is? Like hey, I'm going to put my eating hole on your eating hole and if it goes right we might get hot and flustered and it might lead to sex which is a whole new level of weird.**

 **I need a boyfriend.**

 **Day Fifteen: Teaching the other how to do something**

"Okay, look- this isn't that hard to do!"

"I have to disagree," Saguru said, giving her a blank look over the counter. "This has to be really hard to do."

"I doubt it. I'm going to be by your side the whole time anyway- at least I think I am." She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"What was that last part?"

"Nothing!" Taylor quickly answered, waving her hands. "As I was saying, I'm going to be here the whole time; and when I'm not, you have the recipe with you." She held up the sheet of paper for him to see.

He sighed. "I'm telling you, cooking just isn't my thing."

"Then it's a good thing that this is baking, which is different from cooking." She replied. "We're going to bake those strawberry cookies you really like with your tea."

"I'm pretty sure I don't want my _baking_ skills to ruin the good reputation of that delicious treat." Saguru rested his cheek on the palm of his hand as he watched her move around the kitchen. Taylor bit her lip and leaned across the counter so they were almost nose-to-nose.

"How about a deal?" She offered. He raised an eyebrow.

"A deal." He repeated. She nodded.

"A deal," she said again. "You can teach me how to make a decent pot of tea if you can learn how to make my cookies. That way we can get the other to do it so we don't have to do it ourselves."

He gave her a half-smile. "I knew there was a secretive motive in this. Tired of making them yourself?"

"Not all all," she chirped. "I just figured that since you like them so much you might as well learn how to make them. Unfortunately for you, that means getting on the _other_ side of the counter so you can join me in the kitchen." Saguru sighed and stood up to join her.

"As long as I'm going to teach you how to make a _decent_ pot of tea, I'm alright with the idea." He said. Taylor grinned.

"Wonderful! I'm going to work over here- I already have the right amount of stuff ready for you to mix together right here." She motioned to his work section. "The electric mixer is third cabinet from the fridge- got it?"

"Got it."

"Okay, now just add the butter, both kinds of sugar, and vanilla and mix them together."

"For how long?" He asked, putting the ingredients in and putting the mix on 'medium'. She stood on her tiptoes so she could glance over his shoulder.

"Not long, just until it's smoothish. I'm gonna take this-" She reached around him and grabbed the bag of sugar to add it to the strawberries.

"Can I have one?" He asked, putting a hand on her waist and pulling her closer to him, eyeing the bowl.

"A strawberry?" She glanced at the bowl then him. "No, it's for the cookies."

Saguru gave her a smile so sweet it rivaled the sugared strawberries. "Please, my dearest?" He purred. Taylor smiled and leaned against him, closing her eyes and putting a finger to her chin in mock thought.

"Hmm, maybe later." She told him, patting his hand on her waist for him to let go. "We need to move to the next step."

He sighed and stepped back, but his craving for the berry didn't diminish in the slightest. "Fine. What do we do?"

"You need to add an egg, it shouldn't be that hard." She held an egg out for him to take. He took it and went to crack it against the counter but instead ended up smashing it against the smooth surface. They stared at it. Taylor sniggered."You would think that with how much of the cooking channel you watch with your housekeeper, you would be able to at _least_ be able to break an egg." She teased. He shot her an irritated look as she handed him some paper towels. "Trash can is"

"I know where the trash can is." He said in bitter tone. She clicked her tongue at him.

"And you were so sweet just a moment ago." He scoffed and cleaned up the mess. When he turned around she had another egg in her hand. He groaned.

"Do I really have to do it again?" He asked, eyeing it but taking it anyway. "Did you not just see what I did?"

"I saw it, but you still have to do it." She replied, leaning up against the counter and watching him. "Not so hard this time."

"I got that," He gave her an exasperated look as she clapped when he successfully cracked open the egg and added it to the mixture. "Do you have to do that?"

"Yes! We have to celebrate that you did it! That when you put your mind to it, you can do anything! And now you can get a reward!" She turned and grabbed a strawberry, holding it out to him. He stared at it.

"Didn't you _just_ say that those were for the cookies?" He asked, though he was staring at it longingly.

"Didn't you _just_ say that you wanted one?" She responded. "But if you don't want it, then I'll eat it." She didn't wait for him to object as she popped it in her mouth, squealing as she did so. "Aw, Saguru! You really missed out; it's so sweet and yummy! If only you had taken it-"

The rest of her words were cut off when Saguru placed his lips on hers. Taylor's lips were slightly open from her talking, so it was easy for him to slide his tongue in and take the berry from her mouth to his. He pulled away and smirked when he saw her red face.

"You're right," He agreed, chewing with mock thoughtfulness on his face. "These are some really sweet strawberries."

"I-you-" Taylor stuttered, her face getting redder. Saguru looked at the rest of the ingredients, acting as if he didn't just take food from her mouth.

"Now, what's the next step after the egg is added?" He asked, glancing at her, his smirk widening. "And close your mouth, you look like a codfish."

She closed her mouth and scoffed, walking over to turn the mixture off. "You add the rest of the ingredients, simple enough, yes?" She said as she added the bowls together. She turned the machine back on as she turned on her heel, placing a hand on his chest to stop him from stepping closer. "And now you have to turn around- I have a secret ingredient that you aren't allowed to see."

"What is it?" He asked, moving closer anyway and placing his hands on her waist. "Is it extra strawberries, or sugar, or- dare I say- your love?"

"I _just_ told you it was a secret." She scolded, but she didn't force him to back up as she placed her other hand on his bicep.

"I'm very persuasive, you know." Saguru warned, leaning down slightly. Taylor's eyes drooped. "It would be beneficial for you to just tell me what it is."

"I think I'll be fine," she murmured, moving to her tiptoes and tightening her hold on him. He met her halfway and kissed her, both of their eyes closing as they tasted the sugar on each other's lips. She sighed and he urged the kiss to move forward, pressing her against the counter. She shifted at this new position, letting go of his bicep to support herself against the counter while the other got trapped between them. One of his hands also moved to the counter while the other snaked its way under her shirt to touch her back.

She gasped at the coolness and threw her head back, gasping for air and arching away from his touch. He moved, smiling against her neck. "Cold?"

"Just a bit," she giggled as he pressed his hand against her again, slower than last time. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing, getting used to his cool touch. But it was hard to control her breathing when her boyfriend was kissing her neck, nipping at the skin and quickly soothing the mark with his tongue. Her eyes squeezed shut and she tightened her grips on his shirt and counter. At the back of her mind Taylor thought that they _really_ needed to switch counters because the mixture was _right there_ and was still on but honestly she didn't care as much as she should because him kissing her felt _really good_ and-

And the oven beeped, nearly scaring the two out of their skin. "That- the oven preheated." She said, panting slightly. He was breathing harder than she was. "We should really finish this up."

"Right," Saguru agreed, coughing as he leaned back to give her the space to finish working. "Back to the original topic, what's the secret?"

"A secret." He was no fool; he could clearly see that she added just a dash more sugar to the mix before she moved on to the cookie sheet. "How long does it need to be in for?"

"I need to rotate it in six minutes." She said, looking at him with her face still slightly pink. "Now- about that tea."

 **Verbs** ** _killed_** **me this chapter. The whole time I had a word to use in my mind but I didn't know what it was and it was really annoying and aaargh.**

 **I don't think I should write kissing scenes until I get a boyfriend and start kissing for myself. Or maybe that's the rule for writing sex (forever alone). I thought about reading some more fanfiction as to understand how to write it better, but this is already late as is and doesn't need to be even later. But this is a small fandom and this isn't read everyday anyway, so its not like it really matters.**

 **Maybe I should move this to the Detective Conan fanfic area instead of the Magic Kaito.**


	16. Day 16

**Jeez, I am** ** _not_** **on top of these prompts. I'm a day off, so either tonight or tomorrow I'll double update so I can get back on track. The only thing is that this takes** ** _forever_** **to do, oddly enough, and I kinda don't want to do another one after I finished working on the final prompt. All I can hope for is that one of the prompts are short.**

 **Day Sixteen: Needing each other**

Taylor usually needed Saguru. Not emotionally, really- that wasn't really needed for either of them, unless they wanted to cuddle or something. No, this need was far different than the usual kind of need.

 _"Saguru, how many volts of electricity are needed to kill a person?"_

You know, it was one of _those_ kinds of needs; the questions that need to be answered for either curiosity sakes or to fact check something that she had read.

 _"Why do you want to know?"_

She could just look up the answers online, but after clicking on link after link she found that calling or texting him was far faster. He's a genius, after all, and a detective. He usually knew the answers to her questions.

 _"Just curious."_

It's not like this is an uncommon thing for her to do anyway- plenty of writers do this (Fanfiction writers _totally_ count as writers). She just calls herself a writer and hopes that he won't get too worried about the questions she asks.

But as Taylor's hands flew across the keyboard, bolding passages she needs to double check and writing down questions to ask Saguru once he gets back from a case, she couldn't help but wonder if he needed her as much as she needed him- for questions, that is.

She deleted three paragraphs deemed unworthy and wrote them again.

 _"Saguru, is it true that nicotine sulfate will kill you in just a few minutes?"_

It's not like she would know the answers to the questions he asks anyway. Art and music don't show up much on cases and if they need to translate words into English Saguru can already do that himself.

 _"Saguru, did you know that blood will bounce on snow because of the temperature differences?"_

Well, he could always ask about ways to kill people using basic cooking utensils. She's an expert in that due to random searches on the Internet, and watching how killers mess up tells her what mistakes to avoid, making her the perfect serial killer if she ever wanted to be one. Not that she would- or could-, she reassured him multiple times.

 _"Saguru, if you ever need to look for a body you should try the cemetery. That's the perfect spot, eh?"_

Of course, writing was just a hobby of hers; something to get her mind off the harsh school work. Her _real_ skill was downstairs, sitting all great and mighty in her living room with worn down ivory keys.

 _"Saguru, if anyone dies on a piano and I'm accused of killing them, please know that I didn't. I could never disgrace the instrument like that."_

She helped on his cases before, in high school, but now that she's in college she didn't have the time to accidentally get caught in a case like she did before. She was too busy with college, and with upcoming graduation she had to focus on her studies. Then she would still be too busy with school because of her job.

Work sucks.

 _"Saguru, how would one clear their lungs of smoke? No, without going to a doctor. My character is a doctor so I need to know the procedure."_

The phone rang and she grinned when she saw the picture on the screen. "Hey, I was just thinking about you. I have some questions-"

"Not now, Taylor." Saguru said from the other line. "I have a question to ask you that involves the case."

Taylor's eyes brightened immensely and she spun in her chair with a small laugh. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Well, there's this safe that we need to get into." He explained. "The only problem is that it has a password."

"Did you try 'password'?" She asked, putting the phone between her ear and shoulder as she reached for a pen.

"Ha ha, very funny." He said dryly. "This guy is a music fanatic like yourself and his will said that the password is hidden within these music notes- we don't really want to use force to break into it, so I figured that you could get it."

"I'm honored you think so." Her grin widened. "The notes?"

"They're in a picture I just sent, so you should get it in a minute or two."

"Mmkay." She twirled her pen in her hand. "So you can't read music? I'm _positive_ that we learned it in music class."

"Maybe so, but it's been years- you really can't expect me to remember something that I didn't give my full attention to." He argued.

"As someone who can recite the time to the millisecond, I can expect you to remember something that simple, even if you didn't fully pay attention to it." Her phone buzzed and she looked at the text. "I got the picture."

He ignored her comment, choosing instead to continue his job. "Excellent. Do you think you can figure out the password? It's seven letters-"

"Defaced."

"What?" He asked, surprised.

"The password- try the word defaced." She was quiet as he relayed the information to the people around him. "Did it work?"

Saguru sighed and she could imagine him running a hand through his hair. He probably didn't, though; with all of the people around he needed to keep up appearances. "Yes, thank you so much, Taylor."

"I'm just glad to help," she told him. "I thought that I was the only one that needed you to answer my questions. I'm glad it goes both ways."

He gave a small laugh. "Of course I need you." Taylor bit her lip as she smiled. "I have to go now, so I'll talk to you later- and get your lip out from between your teeth. It's not healthy."

"Show off," She murmured into the phone. He chuckled and she couldn't help but laugh as well. "Alright, bye-bye."

"Bye." The second she hung up she spun in her chair, squealing. "Aw, Duke! I got to help him again!" She called, running out of the room to dance with her dog in her excitement.

 **Every single question that she asked was a question that I had actually asked sometime in my lifetime. I got the password idea from Tumblr, and was actually going to use the word 'cabbage' before I decided to change it. If you can read sheet music, then kudos to you! I learned how to do it in choir (yes, band kids, choir kids can learn how to read sheet music as well (comment made to my mom and my friend, who keeps forgetting that we can)).**

 **Thank God this was a short chapter. Now I think I can double update tonight~~**


	17. Day 17

**I am really bad about washing stuff, and this is no different. In fact, when I'm supposed to do something around the house you have to watch me for the first few minutes to make sure I actually do the work. After you leave, though, I'll still be doing it.**

 **It's just the getting started part that gets to me.**

 **Day Seventeen: Washing something**

"Alright, back up as far as you can and hand me the towel." He followed her movements, eyeing the dog as it jumped out and shook twice before Taylor lunged forward and wrapped him in the towel. The Shih Tzu didn't care- he was a pretty mellow dog, after all. He even sat all nice and quiet as they bathed him, and didn't try to jump out a single time.

Saguru watched as Taylor furiously wiped the towel over Wilson's hair, trying to get him as dry as she could. "Are we done?"

"We are with this one." She kissed the top of Wilson's head before looking at Saguru, grinning. "Now, do you want to catch Duke or shall I?"

He held out his arms. "You're more likely to catch him than I am." She laughed and placed him in his arms.

"Nonsense!" He followed her out into the hall. "We both have an equal chance at getting him."

"You have more experience than I do." They both looked at the Siberian Husky sitting on the couch. Duke looked up and his ears instantly fell back against his head. "You see? He already knows what's going to happen."

"That's cause he's smart." She said, her grin growing. "Keep drying Wilson- Duke!" Duke let out a small whine and Taylor cooed at him. "Aw, sweetie, you're okay-"

Duke barked.

"Don't give me sass, young man!" She said, placing her hands on her hips. "Now come on, you're getting a bath and you're going to like it!" Saguru chuckled and shifted Wilson as he watched the exchange. He could feel a wet spot forming on his shirt from holding him.

Duke stood up and barked again, moving to dash around her to run to the kitchen. But Taylor already figured that he was going to do that so as he ran past her she bounded forward and grabbed his middle, successfully stopping him in his tracks. He squirmed in her grasp as she carried him into the bathroom.

"Very nice," Saguru said sarcastically as she passed him. "You caught him without a hitch!"

"Ha ha, very funny." She murmured, trying to work his body through the doorway without his paws getting caught on it. "You can let Wilson down now, and grab his paws, won't you?"

"Alright," The second he let Wilson down he bolted, rubbing against the floor and furniture. He tilted his head in thought. "Does this happen every time he takes a bath?"

"Yes- Duke's paws, please?" Taylor grunted as Duke squirmed even more. "Hurry!"

"My apologies, here," He grabbed his paws and they twisted so they could enter the bathroom again. "How difficult is this going to be?"

"On a scale from one to ten? Difficult." He closed the door and she awkwardly shifted to place him in the bathtub with a sigh. "Okay, one of us has to hold him while the other washes him. Pick your poison, detective."

He made eye contact with Duke and he whimpered. Saguru scratched one of his ears in an effort to comfort him. "I think I'll hold him down." It should be easier than washing him, he would think. At least, that's what he thought before he noticed the smirk Taylor had on her face. He frowned. "What?"

"You really need to hold him down." She said, running her hand over his fur. Saguru got on his knees next to him. "'Cause he's going to try and jump out, aren't you boy?" She cooed.

Duke let out another small whine as Saguru went to hold him.

"Alright, let's get started," Taylor said, clasping her hands together before turning to the water. Duke saw an opportunity and took it. He barely caught him in time and grunted when his elbow banged against the tub. She gave him a look. "I _just_ told you that you needed to hold him."

"Well, you didn't specify how hard he was supposed to be held!" He shot back. Taylor scoffed.

"I didn't think that I needed to!" She sighed, running a wet hand through her hair. "Alright, sorry. Don't worry, though, he only tries to jump out when we aren't physically touching him."

"Is that so?" He mused. "So all we have to do is keep touching him?" That should be simple enough.

"It's not as simple as you're thinking it is," Taylor replied, grabbing the shampoo and scrubbing Duke with it. "He'll take any opportunity he can to try and jump out, and when he does you're going to help me catch him."

" _When_ he does?" He repeated, giving her a cocky look as he helped to rub the shampoo in. "You underestimate me, Taylor."

"You underestimate the dog, Saguru." She pat the top of Duke's head. "He's going to escape, and he's going to pout and ignore us when he gets put back in. But Wilson will still love us, so it's not all that bad."

"Wilson doesn't- woah!" Just as Taylor said, Duke jumped out off the bath and slid on the tile. Duke stared at them and they stared back, no one moving. Then Duke shook, sending water and bubbles everywhere.

Taylor shrieked and threw up her arms to cover her face. "Duke, no! Saguru!"

"Sorry! So sorry!" He said, immediately reaching the dog only for him to run out of his reach. "Duke, come back, boy!"

"Just grab him!" Taylor darted out and wrapped her arms around Duke's middle again, grunting as she picked him up. "Please help me!"

"Right." Saguru moved and grabbed at Duke's kicking feet again, making sure it wouldn't hit Taylor as she moved to the tub again.

"Here- just set him down gently."

They moved to the tub and slowly started to lower him back into the water. However, Duke decided to give one final squirm and Saguru accidentally let go of him. Taylor couldn't handle it all by herself, so Duke accidentally fell back into the water with a splash. Taylor stared at him and he grimaced. "Sorry."

She sighed and reached for the cup they used to rinse Wilson, filling it with water. "You're not cut out for this just yet."

"Just yet?" He grinned at her. "Are you saying that this is a skill that I will master?"

"Saguru, dear, I've been washing Duke for _years_ and I still don't have it mastered." She pat his leg, which was soaked with water. "You will never get to that point."

"I feel as if that's a challenge. Was that a challenge?" He moved the water around as Taylor poured it.

"If that means that you'll wash Wilson for me for practice then yes." Duke shook and they cried out, covering their faces with their arms. Taylor peeked at Saguru and laughed. "You look so done with this."

"I wouldn't say that." _I'll think it, though._ Saguru grimaced. Taylor laughed harder.

"Don't worry, we're almost finished." She dumped another cup of water on Duke. "Go and get a towel ready. We have to try and get him as dry as possible before he runs out of here and gets everything wet- no, no, don't get the same one we used for Wilson. Get a bigger, dryer towel."

"Got it." He said, grabbing a towel and sharing a look of agreement with her.

She ran her hand over Duke one last time before jumping backwards. "Duke, out!" She didn't even finish the words before Duke jumped out and slid on the tiles again. Saguru let him shake once (though he regretted it immediately) before he engulfed him with the large towel. "Dry him off, dry him off!" She cheered, laughing as if it was a game as they ran their hands over him.

He moved over to the door and put his hand on the knob. "Ready?"

"Ready." She lifted the towel at the same time he opened the door. "Be free, dear puppy! Be free!" She laughed even harder when Duke nearly tackled Saguru on his way out the door and was nearly on the point of tears when she watched him rub himself over everything- including Wilson, to the elder dog's dismay.

"Your dog is insane." Saguru commented, glancing between her and her dog. "Are you okay?" She nodded. "Do you really find this that funny." She nodded again, practically gasping for breath. Saguru couldn't prevent the smile from appearing on his face as he watched her. "Alright, as long as that's the case. I'm going to go get changed."

Taylor sighed, wiping at her eyes. "That's a good idea." She tried to stand up straight and grimaced. "My back is hurting me."

"That's because we were bent over for so long." He explained, moving his hand to her lower spine and pressing against it. She gasped and arched her back. "It would benefit us both if we layed down for a few minutes- or we could do some exercises."

Taylor looked very put off. "I'll prefer to lay down."

He grinned. "I knew you were going to say that."

 **Aaargh, I'm** ** _tired_** **of rewriting it, correcting mistakes and rewriting, then going back to change the previous work of it (it allows me to double check for errors, which I've actually caught on nearly every single chapter before updating). It takes** ** _forever._** **I want to pay someone to do this for me.**

 **And they can wash my dogs for me. Jesus, my back kills me afterwards. I'm tired and I just want to lay down afterwards, which is exactly what Saguru and Taylor are doing here. (I might just do that after this chapter, and** ** _stay a prompt behind god damn it)_**


	18. Day 18

_**Why**_ **do I ruin myself when writing prompts?** ** _Why_** **do I continue writing prompts when I** ** _know_** **that they aren't going to be good due to writer's block (I started this in the summer and wrote all of this at once)?** ** _Why do I not correct them afterwards?_**

 **It's almost as if I'm punishing my future self for something that I've done, making myself write something on a whim before turning it in- like my homework assignments when I've forgotten that I had homework last night.**

 **Day Eighteen: One of them is sick**

Seventeen hours, thirty-seven minutes, and six seconds.

It has been approximately thirteen hours, thirty-seven minutes, and six seconds since he was forced to stay home and rest in bed. He understood staying at home and resting so he could prevent the spread of the disease around the office, but he didn't quite understand why he wasn't allowed to work at home. He told her that and shared a look of disdain with her.

"So your body can rest," she said again, crossing one leg over the other and giving a particularly sharp glance. "It can heal and get better faster if you aren't stressed."

"I'm not stressed."

"You _are_ stressed; you may not notice but _I_ do." Taylor said, glaring down at the pages of her textbook.

"Thinking about the work I have to make up once I get back makes me stressed." Saguru moped, crossing his arms and leaning back against his headboard. "I'm losing thirteen hours-"

"I know how much time you're losing, Saguru." She rubbed her forehead. Was she stressed? He asked her that. "Taking care of a sick person kinda makes a girl stressed, ya know."

"Does it?" He asked, tilting his head. "It wasn't as stressful when I was taking care of you."

There's a sickness going around. Saguru was doing a very good job at avoiding getting it at his office, wisely staying away (not ignoring them, just keeping a safe distance away) from them and making sure his immune system was the best it could be. Then Taylor got sick and, as her boyfriend, he was obligated to take care of her whether she wanted him to or not.

She sighed. "No, it probably wasn't." She looked at the clock; it was a little past noon. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes," He responded. "And it's almost time for my medicine again too." She tossed him the pill bottle from the desk as she stood.

"Hang on to that while I make some tea." She paused before speaking almost hesitantly. "...White tea, right?"

Saguru smiled. "That's right. It seems that you've been doing your research." She flushed and looked towards his door, biting her lip. He told her to stop doing that. "Don't be embarrassed about caring for me."

"I'm not embarrassed." She said instantly. He opened his mouth to state evidence that yes, she _was_ embarrassed, but was struck with a harsh coughing fit instead. She was by his side immediately. "Are you okay?" She asked. He nodded, tears coming do his eyes as he clutched his stomach. "Here, give me a moment while I get your tea." She dashed to the door, took three steps, then came back, leaning through the doorway. "Don't move."

He tried to smile at her but ended up grimacing. "Even when you're mad you still care."

Taylor's face flushed again, but in anger this time. "I'm not angry!" She snapped before leaving the room again. He stared after her before leaning against his pillows, sighing. Why does she insist on not being mad when she clearly was?

As he waited, not daring to make her even more mad by moving, he drummed his fingers against his arm. He thought about the possible reasons why she would be mad at him. Did he say anything to her these past few days? Forgotten something that was deemed important to her (he nearly laughed at the thought. Him, forgetting something? Nonsense.)? No, nothing that he could think of, anyway. Her mood seemed to have been better once she got over being sick, but dropped once she found out of his illness.

 _Ah, so that's the reason why she's so mad._ He stared towards the door. If he listened closely, he could hear her moving around the kitchen. She should be back up in about a minute and a half, depending on how rushed she was to make it and bring it back. He closed his eyes, feeling them burn under his eyelids as he did so. He should take a nap sometime today as well, maybe relax just like she ordered him to. His lips curled as he lightly chuckled. How strange, he hasn't admitted to being wrong outside of a case for awhile.

"What are you laughing about?" His eyes opened, and he found himself getting a slight headache from the light above. The tea and medicine would help.

"Nothing," he replied, reaching out to take the cup and holding two pills loosely between his fingers. "Thank you."

"Mm-hm," she responded, watching him as he took the pills with ease. "Anyway, I'm going to make some soup."

"Alright," He closed his eyes again, but darted out and grabbed her arm before she could move. "I'm sorry."

He could feel her stiffen under his touch; was it in anger or in shock? Perhaps it was both. "Do you even know why you're apologising?"

"Of course I do," He said, slightly irritated at her accusation. Did she honestly think that he would apologise without reason to do so? How long did she know him- she should know better by now. "Who do you take me for?"

"An idiot detective."

He tried to chuckle but coughed again. He squinted up at her. "I didn't tell you that I was sick. I was only thinking about how much work I needed to get done and didn't tell you. I'm sorry."

She sighed and lightly touched his hand. "You're forgiven. Just make sure you tell me next time, alright?"

"I won't forget." She scoffed.

"I know you won't." She pat his hand to loosen his hold. "Alright, stay here and fall asleep or something while I go make your soup."

"Alright," he said, resting his head on his pillows and closing his eyes again. He never realized how tired he was before this exact moment.

It was approximately thirteen hours, fifty-two minutes, and fourteen seconds after he was forced to stay home and rest that Saguru had realized that he _should_ actually rest, just like he was told.

 **Fun fact: since I take honors classes, it's far too much of a risk of missing out on something important if I miss a day. This especially goes to my new class of business and law (it was my first day today) where all of our notes- every single one of them- are written orally. It's going to be a love-hate relationship with that class, I swear.**

 **But I figured that it would be the same with Saguru in school, where he feels like he can't miss a day, and I decided that this would transfer to his adult work-life. I know that it'll probably transfer to mine as well. Sigh.**

 **I think this turned out kinda well for something that was written for you on a whim. I'm impressed with myself. Are you impressed with me? Don't answer that.**


	19. Day 19

**Looking ahead in my prompts, it seems that I have to rewrite this one too. It should be the last one I need to rewrite, except for one of the last ones, but that's simply because I wrote out of order when I refuse to write out of order (thought it would totally be a lot easier if I did). But while I still kept the same structure, just** ** _far_** **different actions in the last prompt, I can't really do that here. Whoopsie.**

 **Well, at least it's short. I won't have to work that hard.**

 **Day Nineteen: Spoiling one another**

It's quite hard to spoil someone when they have a bunch of money to buy what they want or if they have no desire to be spoiled. Of course, that's just how society deems spoiling someone is nowadays- spending a bunch of money of money on someone in a surprise gift.

Saguru and Taylor have to get more creative. Instead of a surprise gift they just have little moments when they spoil each other. How a relationship should be, honestly. It's not like money is that important- okay, well, it _is_ important in our society today, Saguru would argue. Taylor would try to disagree but would end up agreeing only moments after. Well, money wasn't _as_ important as it was made out to be in TV dramas. But TV dramas were just that- dramas.

No, they would have different ways to spoil each other. For example, Taylor would make him tea and desserts that he likes- which wasn't hard, considering the sweet tooth he had. Saguru would take long breaks from his work and go walk in the park with her and attempt- which _has_ been getting better, she noticed- to make dinner for the two of them.

But the _biggest_ way to spoil her, he decided, had to deal with the instrument she played often in her living room. He would get it tuned for her and, once he's done his proper research on how to do it properly, would clean it for her. He found that letting her talk about the music and how to play the piano brought such joy to her face that it seemed to make his heart soar.

He was listening to her talk when she paused, staring nervously at him. "Would you... would you like to play something with me?"

He was astonished. Taylor, letting someone touch her precious piano? It was unheard of! And allowing _him_ , someone that has no skill at all, to play alongside her? It spoke volumes and made his heart sing with joy. He gave her a half-smile. "Are you sure? You know I can't play."

She rolled her eyes and scooted over on the bench, patting the space next to her. "Nonsense, I'll pick something easy for us to play. Come, come."

He sighed but couldn't help the grin on his face as he moved from sitting with Duke over to where she was beckoning him. "Alright, so what's the plan?"

"Uh," Taylor thought for a moment. "I think I have some easy ones for us to learn. Hold on-" she slid off of the bench and walked over to her music bookshelf, scanning the lower shelves and pulling out a binder.

But Saguru got something else out of that action, other than her picking a composition for them to play. _She decided this on a whim!_ So his grin grew wider as she walked back over, pulling out music sheets. "Are you trying to spoil me?" He teased.

"I'll say yes if you admit to spoiling me by letting me ramble about my music," she fired, returning his grin. He wasn't going to admit it- they didn't _need_ to when they knew the answer already. She sat next to him again, arranging the music so they both could see it and placed one hand on the keys. "Okay, place your hand like mine, except in this area over here."

"Don't you need both hands to play?" He asked, mimicking her movements.

"Yeah, but we aren't going that far yet. We're gonna make sure you know this part at the beginning that repeats throughout the song." She pointed at the notes. "It may seem boring, but I'll show you how it'll work."

"Alright." Slowly, she started to play notes that he copied in a lower key. They played it a few times to make sure he had it before she let him play by himself. "That's it?"

"That's it."

He furrowed his brows. "I see."

She sighed. "I told you it was going to be boring- but once you have your part- the harmony- down then I'll let you learn the melody, deal?"

"Deal." He looked at her. "So I assume that the whole song isn't just notes like these?"

"Nope." She got really excited- she's teaching him rather than just talking about it! How fun! "Here- listen to my part." She played a series of notes, seeming as if she didn't need to look at the pages. "It sounds good, right? Now play your notes."

He played his notes and after a few rounds of him playing the same thing over and over again she joined in, playing the melody for him again. He closed his eyes in thought. "It seems more... tied together?" She hummed her agreement and he pressed a few wrong notes on accident. "Sorry,"

"No, no. It's fine. You were enjoying the sound." Taylor stopped and looked up at him. "You're actually taking this pretty seriously."

"Of course," Saguru said, looking back down at her. "You wanted me to, yes? And how can I take you spoiling me and throw it away like it doesn't even matter?"

"It's more like you're spoiling me by letting me teach you." She leaned against him and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Let's agree that we're spoiling each other then." He compromised. She laughed and nodded her confirmation. "Good- so let's try this again, shall we?"

"We shall," she sat up straight and positioned her hands again. "From the top!"

 **This seems to be a better 'teaching each other something' than the actual prompt for it. But this one doesn't have any kissing. So which one wins: a prompt with a (poor) kissing scene or the prompt that was written on a whim?**

 **I like this one better, actually. I know nothing about pianos, but I love listening to classical music. It was fun to listen to all of the different kinds of music to try and figure out what I wanted them to learn together. The song I chose? Comptine d'un autre ete by Yann Tierson. It's a very pretty song- go check it out!**


	20. Day 20

**WE'RE A THIRD OF THE WAY DONE. WOW. This went by a lot faster than I thought it would (I say as I skipped two, three days- though one was by accident- days)!**

 **And I'm pretty sure I'm past that awful stage where I have to rewrite all of my chapters, until the final ones where I feel I can go a better direction with it (but I can enjoy the time with my chapters until then!)**

 **Day Twenty: Shopping together**

I swear to God, _why_ do we have to do this?"

"Because it would be considered rude to not show up to something your best friend invited you to." Saguru examined one of the items on the rack.

"Even though I'm going to hate everything about it?" Taylor asked.

"Taylor, dear, most people hate going to events that they don't want to go to." Saguru half-smiled at her and she pouted. "You are no exception."

"Ugh, fine. But _you're_ the one who's gonna hear me complain afterwards." She scowled.

"It's only a baby shower, I'm sure it won't be that bad." He said, tilting his head as he eyed an item. "Did she say whether it was a girl or a boy?"

"Boy," Taylor responded, glaring at the material he was sorting through. "And of course it's going to be bad- it's a _baby shower._ Do you know what the main subject will be?"

"Babies?" Saguru answered, not fully listening to her complaints. He knew better to not listen at all (though he didn't know if he could _not_ listen to something if he tried).

" _Babies!"_ Taylor exclaimed, throwing her hands down to her sides before she started pacing between three steps and back again, using her arms for emphasis. "It would only make sense if that was the center talk! But it will be the center talk for _four hours_ , since she likes to keep her guests for that long at _minimum_. And if that's not bad enough, do you know what else we get to do?"

"What else do you get to do?" He asked, pulling out another item. "Do you think it would be rude to get something that has 'God-mother's favorite child' on it?"

She opened her mouth before closing it again, glaring at him. "Don't you dare."

He gave her a sly smile and didn't pull the outfit down. "What else do you get to do?"

She paused, as if she forgot what she was talking about for a moment. But then the anger flared up as she remembered. "As if talking about babies isn't enough, we're going to play games and eat baby themed food! _Food!_ Why does food need to be brought into this?"

"Oh the horror," He drawled. "I'm grabbing some diapers- we can't go wrong with diapers, right?"

"I don't know, can we?"

"Taylor, I know that I give off the impression that I know what I'm doing, but in actuality I have no idea." He admitted, something that he would have never done with anyone else. He was an only child, after all. He had no knowledge in what was needed to take care of a baby. And Taylor was the youngest child in her whole family (not to mention the fact that she hated babies) so she wouldn't know what to do either.

She groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "Why did she have to have children? She's only twenty-four. She doesn't need to have children at twenty-four."

"I hate to break it to you, but there are plenty of people who have babies at twenty-four." Saguru gave her an accusing look. "Are you going to help me pick stuff out?" Taylor glanced at him before taking a random outfit off the rack and tossing it towards the cart. He caught it in midair and looked at it, raising an eyebrow at her. "'Grandma's favorite baby'? Really?"

"What?" She looked shocked as she grabbed the article and looked at it. Then she cleared her throat. "Uh, yes. I figured that if I get one for her now, then her mother wouldn't have to get one for her later."

"How considerate of you."

"Thank you, I try." She gave him a mocking smile as he sniggered. She sighed. "My mom loves babies; I really wish she was here right now."

"We have the technology to contact her." Saguru stated. Her eyes brightened.

"That's right!" She pulled out her phone and already hit speed dial when he tried to interrupt her. "Saguru, did I ever tell you that you're a genius?"

"Yes, you have- and thank you. But don't forget about-" She shushed him and he frowned. "Taylor-"

"Sssshhhh!" She shushed again, waving him off as she frowned. He could hear her mother's voicemail. "She didn't pick up." She hit speed dial again, tapping her finger on her case.

"Taylor-"

"What?" She asked, finally turning to him. He made eye contact with her as he said two words.

"Time zones." Her eyes widened and she groaned, hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Ohio is twelve hours behind, yes? So that would make it," he checked his clock. "Two thirty-seven in the morning."

"Shit," she sighed. "Well, now I'm happy she didn't pick up. She probably would have yelled at me even if it was to ask about babies."

"Well, you can always call back later." Saguru recommended.

"What? Leave the store without buying anything? Abandoning our quest to find a gift for a baby shower?" Taylor had mock shock on her face. "Is that really you, Saguru?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny." He said. "And we aren't _abandoning_ what we're doing, just coming back later once we have more information."

She grinned. "More information is always better."

"Of course it is," he agreed, extending his arm out to her. "I have a recommendation for us to do while we wait, if you want to hear it."

"Let's hear it," She nodded, linking her arm with his.

"There's a bookstore that I saw on the way here," he explained. "We can go and spend time there until we get hungry, then we can go have a late lunch, early dinner at a nice restaurant."

He watched her smile grow and she placed her other hand on his arm. "I would love to."

 **Fun fact: I don't like babies. I mean, I know that people always say, "oh, but babies are tiny angles!" Not all the time. And, being an aunt, I'm more likely to get them when they're angles and not tiny demons (though that'll still happen). With that being said, I learned that diapers are always a good thing to get for a baby shower. The more you know.**


	21. Day 21

**I'm staying up late to do this cause I'm an awful worker and I still have homework to do. But tomorrow is Friday, so it'll be okay. Except for the two or three quizzes I have to do... but I'll save that for future me.**

 **Day Twenty-one: Buying flowers for the other**

Taylor would never admit it, but she loved it when Saguru gave her flowers. But it's not like she _needed_ to admit it, as Saguru already knows how much she likes it; he's a detective, after all, and she's his girlfriend. It would only make sense that he would know.

He knew exactly what flowers she liked and what ones she didn't, and which flower to give her after each event that happened. For example: right before a major piano rehearsal, he would leave a white carnation for good luck- it seemed fitting, since that's exactly what the flower means. If it went well, then he would great her backstage with a bouquet of her favorite colored flowers. If it didn't, then he would add some chocolates for her to eat while she was upset (but since he can't predict the future on whether or not it will go well he brings a box just in case).

And then if she was feeling particularly stressed out at school, he would make sure there would be a new vase of peonies near her piano (so he knew she would see it right away) and a little note in his perfect, cursive handwriting that would never fail to make her blush and smile.

"I'll admit it- I like the flowers you give me. However, I think this is a _little_ overboard." Taylor said.

Saguru agreed.

The first thing they noticed when arriving at her house was that the door was unlocked. Then it was the smell that hit them as soon as they walked in. Upon further inspection they found vases of flowers sitting on the cabinet by her front door. She gave him a pointed look before continuing through the house and groaning when she saw the full amount.

They were on the coffee table and the side tables. They were in the dining room and the counters in the kitchen were covered as well. Not an empty space was seen. She wrinkled her nose and looked at a few of the vases. "Ugh, roses."

"I wouldn't have expected them to know that you don't like roses," he said, moving some flowers around and looking at a note. "They don't know you very well for that."

"Who sent it?" She asked, moving to look at a note on her own. In fine print were a congratulation and a company's logo. "Varsity Falls?"

"This one is from General Springs." He stated before opening the card. "Dear Miss Maddox, we would like to congratulate you on your win in the International Chopin Piano Competition and hope that you accept these flowers. These flowers were handpicked from the gardens in the front of our springs and are considered to be the most beautiful around Eastern Japan. Perhaps you can come visit to see them yourself. Sincerely, General Springs." He paused. "There's a coupon as well."

"What? You're kidding." She walked over and peered over his arm to read the card herself.

"Nope. Thirty percent off your next purchase, good for up to a year."

Taylor let out a low whistle and tilted her head in thought. Her fingers drummed against his arm. "I wonder what else I got."

"Besides for the winning money, of course." He said dryly. "You know the companies want you to spend your money on them, right?"

She waved him off. "I would have had the money to spend on these companies even before I won." She started wandering around to examine the tables of flowers. "I hope I got something from a musical place, like free tuning for my piano for a year- that would be truly nice."

He made a sound of agreement. "What are you going to do with all of these flowers?"

"It's spring, so I'll probably just bury them back into the ground or something."

"They've already been cut, so that won't work."

Taylor sighed and looked around the room again. "No, it won't." She furrowed her brows. "I'll keep the coupons and just send the flowers to other places, I suppose. Except for the roses- I'll take all of my pent up anger out on them."

"That's considered to be rude." Saguru looked at her with a sly smile. "Though you know, Kid might be looking for some new roses to give to someone."

She grinned. "Alright. Can you take care of that for me?"

"Depends. What do you want on the card?"

Taylor let go of him and twirled around the room, her concert dress flaring out and spinning along with her. "To my dear thief, I do hope that you accept these flowers- you'll be seeing them for awhile. Love, your favorite detective."

"Sorry, but no," he said, moving around to look at more cards. "I don't think either of us would find humor in that."

"But I would." She looked at him with shining eyes. "Well, I suppose I'll just send some over to your work or house."

"Oh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what ones will you give me?"

"I don't know yet," she looked around and stopped, picking a daisy out and skipping the distance between them to hand it to him. "Here, you can have this one."

"Are you sure?" He asked, taking it and spinning it between his middle finger and thumb, playfully smirking. "There are so many options that you can look through yet."

"I'm sure," Taylor giggled. She looked truly wonderful in that moment, her face shining from her win and the enjoyment she was getting from their conversation.

"I truly appreciate the offer," Saguru said before pushing some of her hair back and placing the flower behind her ear, watching her face tint pink. "But I know that it'll look better on you."

Her smile seemed to take up half of her face. "You know, you usually give me flowers after a rehearsal."

"That's right," he confirmed. "However, I doubt that you want any more flowers. Would dinner suffice?"

"It shall." She placed her hand in his offered palm before looking around the room again, sighing. "I still don't know what to do with the rest of the flowers."

"We can discuss it over dinner." He answered, leading them out the door again.

That night, Kaito entered his house and was assaulted with the smell of flowers. "What in the world?" He exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the vases of roses. "What is this?!"

He walked almost hesitantly over to a vase, wondering if it was some sort of trap set up for him from one of the many detectives that go after him. Then again, only Hakuba knows where he lives. So it probably _was_ a trap. And a trap it was, he decided when he looked at a card tucked between the flowers. He flushed in embarrassment and immediately tore the paper up in tiny pieces.

Just as Saguru had said, Kaito did _not_ find it funny.

 **I find it funny. Imagine getting a crap ton of vases of flowers in your house as a surprise, I would treat it like a trap just like Kaito did. I love flowers, actually, but I always seem to make them die :(. I have a potted plant that is going on its third year of being alive, though, so I have that going for me!**

 **I have no idea what you get if you win an International Chopin Piano Competition, and have no idea if you can really not plant flowers after they have been cut. If I'm wrong, just remember that this is a fictional AU and everything will be okay. Or tell me and I'll change it.**


	22. Day 22

**I use the copy and paste method when typing up my chapters onto fanfiction, that way when I retype it I can correct mistakes and edit parts to they sound better. Well, my computer decided that it wanted to overheat TWICE and shut down down on me when I was almost done editing.**

 **If it does it a third time I'm gonna scream.**

 **Day 22: Competing**

"We're going to win this before you do."

"Is that a challenge?"

"It's a promise."

"Taylor, I think you should know that what you just said _was_ a challenge, and you just promised the results." Taylor glared at him Saguru and he smirked. Kaito sighed from next to him.

"Really, it's not something to compete this harshly over anyway," he said, crossing his arms. "You two are just being ridiculous."

"I don't think we are." Taylor turned to Aoko. "Aoko, do you want to kick Kaito's ass in this game?"

Aoko got fired up, grinning. "I'm always up for beating him!"

Taylor turned towards him triumphantly. "See? Competition is always accepted."

He groaned. "This is going to go awful if this is a competition."

"It'll be fine." Saguru assured him before looking at Taylor. "So how do we play?"

Taylor grin grew wider as she opened the box. "Alright, it's called **_Traitor._** "

"What a promising title." _Smack. "Ow!"_

" _Anyway_ , basically there are two teams- in this case the good team and the guys-"

"Save the trash talk for when we actually start the game, please."

"I'll say it when I want to say it, you damn tea addicted-"

"So the two teams try to get to the top the fastest?" Aoko asked, interrupting them as she read off the box. "That doesn't seem that hard."

"Well that's the goal," Taylor explained. "But the items you have can be used against _anyone,_ regardless of whether they're on your team or not. You can lay them for anyone, and you can move ahead of your team and still win even though they're not with you."

"So you can choose to stay with your team or abandon them for victory?" Kaito asked. "Why wouldn't you just go on ahead without them?"

"Well the points, mainly, 'cause you want to get the highest number of points possible." She continued. "You have to choose: do I want to get first place or the highest number of points?"

Saguru took the box from Aoko and continued reading it. "But you can join the opposite team if you want to."

"Mm-hmm. You can betray your team by continuing on without them or join the other team, but the other team could easily destroy you if they decide to attack."

"Hence the name **_Traitor_**." Kaito finished. He looked through the item cards and monster cards. "What do these cards do?" Taylor took them and shuffled them before placing them back on their respective spots on the board.

"I'll explain when we get that far. We have alcohol, right? Good. Now, it's time to pick our characters…"

 _Later_

"You betrayed me?" Saguru gaped while Kaito laughed. "Well, I shouldn't have assumed otherwise. You are a _thief_ after all." Kaito instantly stopped laughing and shot his head to stare at Saguru while Taylor laughed instead.

Aoko smiled. "Ah! I get it- it's because Kaito's character is a thief, right?" Taylor laughed harder and Saguru smiled, nodding and giving an innocent look to a pouting Kaito. "Well, I guess that sucks for you; there's no way Taylor-chan would betray me like that!"

"No, I totally am." She chuckled as she set down a glue trap. "I'm going to glue Aoko in place and make her lose a turn and then play the speed shoes and move double what I roll which is… a four. I move eight places which makes me at the same spot as Saguru." She met his gaze. "Wanna group up?"

"No!" Kaito yelled, slamming his hand down on the table. Taylor squealed and grabbed her drink before it could spill. He pointed at her. "You betrayed us just to team up with your boyfriend from the start, didn't you?"

"Of course not," Taylor said, appalled and cradling her half-empty drink in her hands. "I did it so I can have a better chance of winning- no offense, Aoko."

"It's fine," Aoko sighed. "I don't fully understand this game anyway."

"If you don't fully understand the game, then why don't you group up with Kuroba?" Saguru asked, looking through his cards. "He seems to understand the game well enough."

"Hmph! As if I would want to group up with her! She's all the way in the back of the board!"

"As if I would want to group up with you anyway, bakaito!"

"What was that?!"

Taylor and Saguru ignored the commotion next to them. "I'll team up with you." Taylor grinned.

 _Much Later_

"Play that card on me and you'll regret it."

"I don't usually regret the things I do."

"You will if you play that card on me." Taylor and Kaito met eyes and stared at each other, the former with a serious look while the latter had a playful smirk. Then, slowly, Kaito put the card back in his hand. Taylor nodded and leaned back in her chair.

Then he pulled the card out again and laid it back down on the table. "I play freeze ray on Taylor and Saguru, since they're sharing a space."

"You _bitch!"_

 _Much, Much Later_

"Play that card on me and you'll regret it."

"I don't usually regret the things I do."

"You will if you play that card on me." Taylor and Kaito met eyes and stared at each other, the former with a serious look while the latter had a playful smirk. Then, slowly, Kaito put the card back in his hand. Taylor nodded and leaned back in her chair.

Then he pulled the card out again and laid it back down on the table. "I play freeze ray on Taylor and Saguru, since they're sharing a space."

"You _bitch!"_

 _Much, Much Later_

"You can't betray me! _I_ was going to betray _you!_ "

"Well, I decided that I was going to betray you first." Saguru said, rolling his die and setting his cards down on the table. "I roll a two and move my character to the winning circle- so I win, yes?"

Taylor groaned and rested her head on the table. "I can't believe this."

"It's going to get worse." He told her. "You miss a turn because I glued you, so it's Kaito's turn now."

"I'm going to play my share card and roll for both me and Aoko." Kaito announced, moving them four places and landing two spaces behind Taylor. "See, aren't you glad that we joined teams?"

"I'm pretty sure that was _my_ idea." Aoko claimed, looking at her cards. "Pass. And I can't roll because Kaito rolled for me, right?"

"Right, and Saguru won already so he doesn't have a turn, so it's mine." She set her cards down and grabbed the die, hoping it was a three. It was a two. She groaned and moved her character forward.

"There's a trap on that space." Saguru said, eyeing the board. "You lose another turn."

Taylor screamed.

 _Finally_

Taylor placed her head in her arms while Aoko patted her back sympathetically. "I came in complete last place." She moaned.

"There, there, it's just a game, right?" Aoko cooed, trying to make the American feel better.

"She got the least amount of points _and_ finished in last place." Kaito said, looking over Saguru's arm to look at the tallied points. "That's a little sad."

"It's because she was trying to finish before everyone else." Saguru said, holding back a yawn as he looked at his watch. "It's late- do you want me to call a taxi?"

"Naw, I didn't drink enough to worry about making it home safe or not. We don't live that far away anyway." Kaito said, putting on his coat.

"I plan on sleeping in tomorrow morning." Aoko yawned, taking her coat when Kaito offered it to her. She looked back down at Taylor's moping form. "Thanks for letting us come over and showing us that game, Taylor-chan."

Taylor propped her chin on the table. "Thanks for coming over, I had lots of fun."

"Likewise," Aoko bobbed her head while Kaito nudged her to the door. "I'll message you when we get home."

" _I'll_ message you when we get home," Kaito said instead, eyeing Aoko as she tried to stifle another yawn. "She'll probably fall asleep as soon as we get there."

"Alright, bye-bye." Taylor and Aoko waved at each other until they disappeared past the archway to the front door. Saguru followed them to lock the door but came right back afterwards.

"This got intense today." Saguru commented, sitting back down at the table. "I didn't realize that you got _this_ competitive with games. Makes me wonder what you're like with other team strategy games."

"Let's not find out."

 **This one took far too long to do. Between my computer crashing to editing** **it to procrastinating on it to read manga and sending it out late (I only regret it a little bit, since the manga was good, I suppose), this one was a hassle to complete even though I really enjoyed writing it. Definitely in one of my top prompts. Plus, this one is longer than others so you can forgive me for sending it out late right?**

 **...Right?**


	23. Day 23

**OKAY. I KNOW THAT FOR SOME OTHER PROMPTS I WAS LIKE "THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE PROMPT" AND SUCH (OR IT WILL HAPPEN LATER ON). BUT NO MATTER WHAT I SAY FOR ANY OTHER PROMPT, THIS ONE, RIGHT HERE, IS MY FAVORITE PROMPT.**

 **NO. MATTER. WHAT.**

 **Day Twenty-three: Being old together**

It was spring when she first noticed them. She was chasing a ball her cousin kicked to try and stop it from going into the road when she looked up and saw an elderly couple sitting on their porch together. The man noticed her looking at them first and nudged the woman next to him. She and the couple stared at each other before the woman smiled and waved at her. She waved back.

"Arabelle! Hurry up and bring the ball back!"

"I'm coming!" She turned and kicked the ball, forgetting about the couple as quickly as she noticed them.

But the next time she walked down that road, she couldn't help but look at that house. The old man was sitting there again on the swinging bench. She was wondering where the old woman was when she walked out, a plant in hand. She motioned for the old man to get up to help her and they hung it off the roof. She held it steady while he hooked it, tall enough to reach even in old age.

Then she continued walking.

It was a month into Summer Vacation when she saw them again. Taylor was walking Mars. He was mowing the lawn while she was planting flowers alongside the sidewalk. The old woman looked up, her hat shading her face, and smiled at her. Arabelle couldn't help but smile back.

And Mars couldn't help barking and running up to the woman, dragging Arabelle's heels into the sidewalk and nearly toppling the old woman over. "Mars!" She gasped, trying to pull him back. "Back! No, Mars!"

But the woman only laughed. "It's fine," she assured, rubbing behind his ear. "I used to have a dog that was just like this."

"He's still a puppy," Arabelle explained. "So I'm still working on training him properly."

"What's wrong?" The two girls looked up to see the old man standing over them. His brow was furrowed and he frowned as he looked down at them. Arabelle grew anxious in his presence but the old woman smiled up at him.

"Nothing's wrong, dear." The lady assured. "This dog, Mars, is it?" Arabelle nodded. "Just wanted to say hello." She lady's eyes shone. "Doesn't he look like Duke?"

The man's eyes softened as he looked at her and then the dog. "Yes," he agreed. "Except he didn't have the brown spots that this one does." He looked at Arabelle again and she couldn't help but squirm on the spot. "I've seen you before."

"I've lived on this road for years, sir." She said. "And I always play at the park with my cousins."

He nodded and the lady laughed. "You haven't been called 'sir' in _years_!" She giggled.

"It was rather weird to hear it again." He looked down at Mars and gave a questioning look to Arabelle, extending his hand to the dog. "May I...?"

"Oh, yes!" She exclaimed, moving to pet him herself. "He's a huge attention seeker. A big baby, a little brat." Her voice turned teasing as she cooed at her dog. The man placed his hand on Mars' head and he instantly tilted his head back to try and get him to move his hand down. He obliged. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"

"My name is Taylor, and this is my husband Saguru." Taylor said, grinning at her. "And your name?"

"Arabelle." She tilted her head. "Saguru? That's a unique name."

"It's Japanese," he explained. _He's Japanese?_ Arabelle thought, eyeing his blond hair. He must have some other foreign blood in him too. Or maybe he was just feeling like he wanted to be one of those 'cool' old men. "It means 'to search'."

Arabelle's grin grew. "That's even more unique of a name."

"But Arabelle is a unique name as well." Taylor said, moving to stand up. Saguru offered his hand for support and placed his other one on her arm, helping her slowly stand. Taylor smiled at him before looking back at Arabelle. "I didn't mean to keep you, dearie. You can continue with your walk now; I know your dog will probably be getting antsy soon for keeping still for so long."

"You're probably right." She pulled on Mars' leash. "Come, Mars! Have a good day, you two."

"You too." Taylor called back. Arabelle watched them walk into the house, wondering if Taylor was okay but figured that they were just taking a break from working in the sun for so long. This was confirmed when she passed by their house a week later and the lawn was mowed the rest of the way and the rest of the flowers were planted.

The leaves were turning different colors and falling when she went to the park with her cousins. She looked at the house but the porch was empty and the lights appeared to be off. But it _was_ in the middle of the day and getting a bit chilly outside, so that was to be expected. It was when her cousin pulled her hand to drag her to the playground when she saw them.

They were sitting on the swings, talking and holding hands. The old woman- Taylor, she remembered- was laughing and Saguru- an easier name to remember- was smiling at her. Taylor's heels dug into the ground and gently pushed the swing back and forth. Arabelle pushed her cousin forward to play on the structures before walking over to them.

"Hello," she greeted them. Taylor looked up and looked confused as to whom she was, but Saguru remembered her immediately.

"Hello, Arabelle." He responded. "We haven't spoken since you walked your dog this past summer- Mars, was it? That Siberian Husky."

"That's right, sir." She bobbed her head and was curious as to why he was giving so much information about that day when Taylor's eyes lit up with remembrance and she suddenly realized the reason. Taylor gave a look to Saguru.

"You and your perfect memory." She scoffed before shooting an apologetic look towards Arabelle. "I apologize for not remembering sooner, dear, my memory isn't what it used to be."

Arabelle waved her off. "It's fine, it was awhile ago anyway."

"We're just here enjoying the cooler weather. Summer isn't really our style- though I prefer winter over everything else." She winked at Arabelle. "Let's hope it arrives soon, yes?"

"Yes." Arabelle grinned before it faltered, her eyes gazing past them. "Jamie, get down from there right now!" Jamie froze from his place on the tube slide, staring back at her. "I'm sorry, I really have to make sure he doesn't do anything he's not supposed to."

"It's fine, go run around and enjoy your youth while you have it." Taylor told her. Saguru nodded in agreement as she ran along.

The first time it snowed Arabelle immediately thought about the old couple. They were waiting for the first snowfall, right? Maybe she could go and see them.

She was just pulling on her boots and gloves when her mother appeared in the doorway. "Good, you're already ready to go out. Will you take your cousins and play with them outside?"

"Uh, sure." She said. The trip to their house was put on hold for the day, and apparently for many weeks.

It was Winter Break and quite a few snowfalls later until she pulled on her coat again to head to the house. She walked outside, nearly blinded by the brightness, and listened to the crunch of the snow under her boots. Maybe she could offer to shovel their sidewalk for them.

She caught Saguru at his mailbox and grinned, running up to him. It was weird to see him without Taylor by his side, she decided. "Good morning!" She called.

He looked up and smiled. "Good morning- oh, watch your step, it's icy out."

"I know, I'm being careful." But she still heeded his warning and slowed down. "It snowed, you know."

"I'm aware."

"Well, are you excited for it?"

"I'm not one that usually gets excited about snow." He admitted.

She tilted her head. "Well, what about Taylor? I know that _she_ was looking forward to the snow."

"She did." Upon seeing her confused look he sighed, looking through his mail. "She died."

The air grew tense and she shifted awkwardly. "Oh." He didn't say anything, and she didn't expect him too. There wasn't really anything to say to that, anyway. She swallowed. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," he said, and she was pretty sure that his eyes were moist. Or maybe that was from the wind blowing at his face. "She died peacefully in her sleep."

"Did-" she hesitated and he motioned for her to continue. "Did she get to see the first snowfall at least?"

He smiled and nodded. "She was excited when she first saw it; I couldn't get her to stop talking about wanting to run around and play in it. She was too old for that, though." He gazed off into the distance, as if he was looking at a distant memory.

"Um," he snapped out of it and looked at her. "I actually came down to offer to shovel your sidewalk for you, if you need it done."

Saguru shook his head. "It was already done for us this morning, so it should be good until the next snowfall. Thank you for the offer though. Next time you can come down, alright? Alright. Have a good day." He hurried into the house before Arabelle could respond. But she could understand why, since she brought up bad memories.

She turned around and walked home.

It was spring, a year after she first noticed the old couple, and Arabelle was looking at the newspaper. She got to the obituaries- something she has taken to do since she's heard of Taylor's death- and noticed a name that made her sigh and close it.

"Saguru Hakuba," she murmured to herself. Jamie looked from his coloring book in confusion. "A unique name indeed."

 **I would like to say a special thanks to my friend Alicia for giving me the idea on how to write this prompt. Last summer I was confused as to how to write this but then she told me about a couple on her street that do things like puzzles together. There was one instance where the old man was fixing his swinging bench and the old lady brought lemonade out for him to drink. I decided to write this prompt from an outsider's point of view from that. She didn't expect the ending though.**

 **By far my favorite thing that I have written. I'll come back and look at it and possible revise it in a few years.**


	24. Day 24

**So yesterday night I found out that using the copy-and-paste method on FanFiction takes out random phrases or words. I knew that it did that three or four years ago, but I thought the issue was resolved. Apparently not. So now I'm going to go through and rewrite the chapters in a separate word document and upload it that way to make sure this doesn't happen again.**

 **I wonder if it happened in previous chapters as well, or if that's the reason why people don't go past the first few chapters. Oh well, I'll resolve this soon.**

 **Day Twenty-four: Dealing with children**

 **Bold= English**

Taylor hated children.

She couldn't stand them. She couldn't handle the crying and yelling and disobedience. She couldn't _stand_ the fact that they think they can do whatever they want and then start to cry like a spoiled brat when they get scolded for their actions or if they don't get something they want.

Kind of makes her wonder how she can deal with teenagers.

First world problems.

" **Aunt Taylor, Tyler pulled my hair again!"**

" **Aunt Taylor, tell her to give me back my action figure!"**

" **Aunt Taylor! Aunt Taylor! Aunt Taylor!"**

"Taylor," said girl looked up, a slight red line on her forehead from where the edge of the table was digging into her head. Saguru stared at her with an amused expression. "Do you require assistance?"

Her chair squeaked against the floor as she stood up. "Saguru," she breathed, giving him a relieved hug. "You're here!"

He raised an eyebrow, staring at the side of her head. "You asked me if I could come and I agreed." He reminded her. "So I'm here, just like I said I would be."

"Thank the gods." Taylor mumbled before pulling back, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Saguru, please help me with the – _ **back away from that piano right now!"**_

The five-year-olds stood frozen, staring at her with wide eyes as their hands held the cover protecting the delicate ivory keys. They stood in a staring contest with Taylor, no one moving. Then they let go of the cover and let it slam against the piano.

Taylor screeched and darted across the room. The children screamed and ran away from the instrument. She ignored them as she ran her hands over the piano, inspecting every last detail and giving a sigh of relief when nothing wrong happened to it. She sunk down on the piano seat and held her head in her hands. It was quiet again.

"Taylor?" Saguru asked slowly, taking equally slow steps towards her. "Are you alright?"

Taylor's head snapped up and she sent a glare towards the children that was so cold he could have sworn it dropped three degrees. The children screamed again and jumped over the couch to hide behind it- or rather, they attempted to climb over the couch and fell over it to land on each other. Crying sounds followed immediately after. Saguru thought it was because they got hurt; Taylor knew it was because they were scared.

Rotten children deserve it, hurting her precious instrument like that.

" **Tyler, Tori, you two are in** _ **big**_ **trouble!"** She growled out, moving to try and catch them. But Saguru intervened and stepped in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Now Taylor," He cooed. "They're only children, so you can't be too harsh on them."

"Saguru!" She whined, staring up at him with blue eyes that were shining with unfallen tears of frustration. "Please help me; I can't manage this on my own!"

He gave a small chuckle. "I can tell."

"Saguru!"

"I know, I know, that's why I came over. To help, you know?" He gave her a reassuring smile that she couldn't help but return. His hands dropped to give hers a small squeeze before he turned to the children. "Now, who exactly are they?"

"My cousin's children, Tyler and Tori; they're from America." She explained. "Their parents are sightseeing around Japan and I'm being forced to watch over them."

"And I assume your parents are with them?" Saguru asked, frowning. If her parents were here then why didn't they take the children? He met her parents before- her mother would have never left Taylor alone with something she couldn't handle.

Then again, her mother thought that Taylor could handle much more than she actually could. But he digressed.

"No, they're still in America. It's just my cousin and her husband that came to Japan. My parents agreed for them to drop their children off with me for awhile- thank god they aren't actually staying in my house- while they have time for themselves." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "They just dropped in unexpectedly, so I have no idea how to deal with them."

Saguru thought for a moment. "Well, us talking in a language they aren't familiar with is more than likely freaking them out a little." He said. "So, until they leave we're going to talk in English."

"Uh-huh."

"And don't use big words that they won't understand either. They're already frustrated so it would only make them more confused and more upset."

"That's more of a comment towards yourself than anything." He gave her a look and she smiled innocently. "What?"

"Finally, no sarcasm- they don't understand the concept of it and will take what you say literally." He said. "Now repeat that back to me."

"No bitter and sarcastic humor." Taylor repeated back at him. "In other words, no fun."

Saguru sighed. That was good enough for him. He turned towards the children, who were peaking over the side of the couch with tear-stained faces. He smiled. " **Hello,"** he greeted, talking in a soft voice. " **My name is Saguru Hakuba, can you tell me yours?"**

A grin appeared on Taylor's face. The way his tenor voice flowed smoothly from one word to another never failed to make her feel better. _Unfortunately,_ it worked on more people than just her.

Tori immediately jumped up to run to him. " **A prince!"** She squealed, bouncing up and down in her excitement. " **A prince is here!"**

" **Oh wow!"** Tyler agreed, appearing next to his sibling. " **Are you going to teach us how to sword fight and fight dragons?"**

" **Unfortunately, there are no more dragons left to fight."** He told the child, crouching down in front of them and taking on a teasing voice, **"And I don't think you could pick up a sword if you wanted to."**

Tyler frowned and crossed his arms. " **Could too!"**

"Oh my god." Taylor mumbled before straightening up when Saguru gave her a sharp look. "Right, sorry, English only, I know."

Saguru continued as if her interruption never happened. " **Well, perhaps you could. I suppose we'll figure that out some other time. Any other questions?"**

Tyler asked another question immediately. " **Why does your hair look like there are stairs climbing to the top of your head?"**

Saguru deadpanned as Taylor laughed. " **Perhaps you shouldn't have said he couldn't pick up a sword."** She teased.

He sighed. " **Perhaps not."** Well, questions was going downhill fast. " **Alright, question time is over. What do you kids want to do?"**

Their faces brightened. " **I want to play outside**!" Tyler chirped.

" **No, no, a tea party!"** Tori argued.

" **Why not a tea party that's outside? After all, it's a nice day out."** Saguru recommended. The children pondered it for a second before nodding. He grinned and stood, taking Tori's hand. " **Alright, let's go and get it set up. Come, my dear Taylor."**

" **Yeah, come play with us, Aunt Taylor!"** Tyler exclaimed, running out the door. Taylor sighed and, after getting motioned by Saguru to go on ahead of them, followed him.

"You're a savior." She murmured quickly to him before following the young boy outside. Saguru smiled softly at her back and gazed after her, watching Tyler explain what he wanted to play.

Tori stared at Saguru with wide eyes. " **Are you and Aunt Taylor gonna get married?"**

He looked down at her with surprise before looking back at Taylor. He tightened his hold on her hand. " **Perhaps,** " He said slowly. " **Do you think she'll say yes if I ask her?** "

Tori's eyes twinkled. " **I bet she would! I'll help! She'll be the princess in the tea party and you'll be the prince- you'll have to be together then!** "

Saguru chuckled and led her outside. " **That sounds like a wonderful plan.** "

 **Unlike Arabelle, Taylor is not good at dealing with small children that get into trouble. Poor gal. Children are far too blunt, don't you think? I'm going to be an aunt this spring, and I have the same view on children that Taylor does. I wonder if that view is going to change later on. Also, I couldn't help but take another jab at Saguru's hair. I know it's the way it's animated but it cracks me up every time.**

 **This has to be another one of my favorite prompts that I write. I think that almost all of my favorite prompts appear at the end of the 30 days, and is written one after the other (with the exception of one. Screw you day 26). So expect the next one to be just as good~~ And with the highest numbered chapter coming out with 1,800 some words, that means I can increase the length! Yay for unexpected editing!**


	25. Day 25

**I just want to say before this chapter that I have never been in a relationship or have been physically or emotionally intimate with anyone outside my family. With that being said, please don't judge this chapter too harshly. Also, for the statistics, I just looked up the average size in America. Thank you.**

 **Day 25: Trying to seduce one another**

"Maddox-san, if you sigh one more time I'm going to curse you."

"I'm sorry, Akako." Taylor pressed her check against the palm of her hand, frowning in agitation at her coffee.

It was Akako's turn to sigh as she set down her tea. "Alright, what's the matter with you? Is it relationship problems?"

Taylor flushed. "Is it that obvious?" She moaned, laying her head in her arms.

"Yes."

Taylor moaned louder. "I can't help it!" She cried. "I haven't spent quality time with Saguru in _weeks_ because he's _always_ working. This damn case is taking up all of his time at work so he works overtime to try and solve it so he never contacts anyone- even me!"

"So he's putting work before relationships." Akako mused, tilting her head. "Well, there's always one way you could use to get his attention."

Taylor's head shot up immediately, her eyes shining with excitement. "Really? Tell me!"

"The ancient act of seduction."

It was three quarter notes as a beat before Taylor reacted. " _What?!"_ If she flushed when admitting her relationship problems then all of her blood must have rushed to her face now.

Akako chuckled, resting her cheek on her knuckles as she eyed Taylor. "Oh, come now, Maddox-san. You two have surely done the deed by now- are you saying that you haven't seduced him yet?"

Taylor didn't meet her gaze. "W-well…" Usually when the two had sex both of them were in the mood to do so. But, now that she was thinking about it, she was positive that Saguru _has_ seduced her before, in multiple ways. Does this mean that she's never returned the favor…? She covered her face with her hands, whining. "Oh, what am I going to _do?_ I don't know how to seduce someone!"

"Now, now, don't fret." Akako reassured her. "I'm going to help you. I even managed to help Nakamori-san, so I have no doubt that I can help you."

"Even _Aoko_ has done it?"

"She wouldn't have if it wasn't for _my_ help." She scoffed, muttering something to herself before continuing. "But just think- I have dozens of boys fawning over me all of the time. So, that means that I have the ability to help you, yes?"

"I suppose so…" Taylor said hesitantly. "But where do we start?" Just thinking about the act made her embarrassed.

"First things first: shopping; we need to get you the proper attire to wear."

Taylor was all for it until they reached their destination, then that flutter in her stomach came back. "What's this?!"

"A lingerie store." Akako said, walking in as if she didn't have a care in the world. She probably didn't. "I'm just going to assume that you don't own any, since you've never seduced before." She held the door open and raised a perfect brow. "Are you coming? If you're worried about being judged, literally no one is going to care that you're coming inside."

She quickly ran past her to enter the store. "I wasn't thinking that."

"Yes, it was. We both know it was." Akako glanced down at Taylor's chest and she squirmed. "What bra size do you wear?"

"I'm sorry?" Taylor asked, covering her chest with her arms.

Akako closed her eyes of annoyance- god knows she can't ruin her beauty by making an annoyed face in public, Taylor thought. "What's your bra size? This is needed information if you're going to get new underwear- actually; I require both sizes, so I need to know your panty size as well."

Taylor looked away from Akako but felt too embarrassed to actually look at the lingerie so she looked at the ceiling instead. She mumbled something.

"I didn't hear that."

"Thirty D and a five medium."

"Thank you," Akako said coolly before saying, quite loud enough for Taylor to hear, mind you, "You're even worse than Aoko."

Taylor knew for a fact that she was speaking the truth, but it didn't stop her from being offended. "Hey!"

"Calm down," Akako said. Saguru has a level of irritableness where he rubs his forehead to stop a headache from coming on. Taylor thought that Akako was right about to reach that level. "Anyway, we still have to try stuff on. And by 'we', I mean you, since I'm not buying anything this time around." She held an outfit in front of Taylor and shook her head. "You'll look better in cool shades, especially since you don't like bright colors."

" _This_ time around?" Taylor asked. She shouldn't be surprised, really. With all of the suitors Akako has lined up it would be more astonishing if she _didn't_ hook up with some of them. Or maybe she just looks nice in lingerie and likes wearing them… she probably looked good in lingerie, too, god damn it. "How many do you have?"

"Enough to get by." She answered, handing her an outfit. "Here, go and try this on while I look for more."

"But how do I know if I should get it?" Taylor examined the cloth, the pink coming back faintly in her cheeks as she examined it.

"Just ask three questions: How difficult is it to get on- it's your first time- he probably won't know how to take it off anyway- so we're sticking with simple ones; how good does it look on you, because there's no point if you're just going to be self-conscious or if you hate it- take a point from me and love your body, by the way; and how comfortable is it? It won't be satisfying for either of you if you aren't comfortable." Akako paused. "At least it shouldn't; Hakuba-san doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would like his lady to be uncomfortable during sex. Is he?"

"I'm not discussing that with you!" Taylor exclaimed. Akako shrugged and Taylor turned on her heel to the changing rooms. "I'm going to go change."

Akako didn't hold back with the options of underwear, especially when she knows that Taylor has the money to pay for it. They spent hours there with her deciding whether or not something looks good on her (which was super embarrassing, but Akako didn't seem to be fazed by the fact that she was practically naked) before she gave her specific instructions of what to do when Saguru got home and sent her on her not-so-merry way.

So there Taylor was, standing in Saguru's house in the dark (unlike what Akako told her to do; she was _not_ comfortable just waiting by the door for him to show) and waiting for him to get home. She messed with the thin fabric covering her stomach, wondering if this was another night where he was going to work late. Then she heard the lock on the door and hid in the shadows, nervousness building in her stomach as she watched Saguru walk through the doorway and run a hand through his hair. He dropped his suitcase next to the kitchen entrance and flipped a switch, illuminating the kitchen and making Taylor wince from the sudden light. He was moving pots and pans around so she could only assume that he was making tea.

She clenched the fabric in her fist as her anxiousness built. Could she do this? She didn't think she could do this. Then she grew angry; she didn't spend hours of torture with Akako just to back out now! So, with renewed confidence, she walked to the kitchen entrance and leaned against the doorway just like Akako told her to do.

Taylor took a calming breath before calling out, "Saguru."

Saguru paused in his motions. "Taylor, what are you doing here so-" He turned and took a sharp intake, eyes growing wide and his face turning red.

Aaand her confidence was gone. She shifted where she stood and stood straight again, looking away from him with her face turning red as well.

It seemed like forever before he could gather his bearings. He cleared his throat before continuing, "What are you wearing?"

"It's been awhile since I've last seen you," she told him, playing with the hem of the cloth. "So, I figured that I might as well surprise you with something nice- you _do_ think it looks nice, right? 'Cause if it's not I can always go and change."

"No, no, it's fine," he was quick to reassure her. " _More_ than fine, actually- I was just surprised, that's all." He set the cup he was holding down before walking over to her, his eyes inspecting her. "But I don't think us not seeing each other much would bring you to go out and buy lingerie."

"You're right, I was complaining to Akako and she recommended it." She paused. "Rather, she _forced_ me to go out and buy some."

" _Some?_ Plural?" He asked. Taylor nodded.

"Yeah," She nodded, resisting the urge to bite her lip. "Um, if you'd like, you can see the rest of them some other time."

"I would like that." He said softly, placing his hands on her waist. She glanced at him.

"Your cheeks are pink." She said, placing her hands on either side of his face and running her thumbs against his cheeks.

"So are yours." He commented. A smile danced across his lips. "You do look quite nice in this."

She couldn't help but grin. "Thank you." Her hands dropped to his shoulders before she continued slowly, hesitant. "Do you want to continue this conversation upstairs? I think you need a stress reliever anyway."

His voice dropped low and his eyes drooped as he leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. "I would _love_ a stress reliever right now."

Then he kissed her.


	26. Day 26

**Day Twenty-six: Interacting with family members**

 **All conversation is spoken in English unless said otherwise**

Saguru leaned down so he could speak into her ear. "It doesn't matter how long I've known you," he said. "I will never get used to your family."

Taylor gave him a surprised look. "Really?" She asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked up and down the long table. "This is actually kind of tame, especially since not all of my cousins are here."

Tame, she says. Halfway to chaos, he claims, with her grandparents, mother and father, four cousins with their children, and her twin brothers. Both of which, mind you, take it upon themselves to examine Saguru at all points of time to make sure he won't do anything bad to their sister. And that means that they never looked away from him once during dinner. It would have freaked him out if they hadn't done it every other meeting they've had with him.

She moved so she could whisper in his ear, speaking in Japanese so the family wouldn't understand her. She eyed her brothers who eyed her in return "I love my family so much, but I would rather be on our vacation at Tokyo instead of here."

"We can always reschedule," He told her quietly in Japanese as well, frowning as her brothers turned their gaze to him. "Just enjoy your time with your family while it lasts."

"You know, Saguru," Nick said coolly, leaning forward on his elbows. "It's rude to speak in foreign languages in front of people who can't understand you."

"You know, Nick." Taylor responded before Saguru could react. "It's rude to listen in on other people's conversations, but that doesn't stop you and Jason from doing it."

"You know, Taylor." Jason replied, taking the same stance his brother did. "It's rude to talk down to your elders like that."

"Elders, huh?" Taylor mused, staring at them. "Well, I suppose I can see it, your hairline _is_ receding after all." Their hands shot to run a hand through their hair, eyes wide. They turned towards each other with nervous eyes before narrowing them and turning back to Taylor. She had a mocking smirk on her face.

"Receding hairline?" Jason- or perhaps it was Nick- mused.

"It's like your one to talk-" The other continued on. They tilted their heads the same way.

"After all, your face-

"-Is still such a baby face!"

"Do you still get stopped before entering something eighteen and up?" One of them asked.

"Maybe she does when trying to see a PG-13 movie." The other recommended. They turned towards each other.

"Nick, that's thirteen and up, not eighteen and up." Jason said.

"I suppose you're right," Nick agreed. They turned to look at Taylor again, who glared at them in return. "But I suppose it still works, right?"

"Right."

"Such a baby face."

There was a beat of silence. "Mom!" Taylor whined, turning to the older side of the table. "Jason and Nick are doing that creepy thing where they finish each other's sentences again!"

"Play nice, kids." Her mother said, not even looking at their side of the table. "Now, mother, back to what we were talking about."

Taylor's jaw dropped and Saguru couldn't help but chuckle. She frowned and crossed her arms, mumbling. "We're not children."

"No, children wouldn't have boyfriends." Jason said. He picked up his water and eyed Saguru again. "Now, Saguru, we have a few questions for you."

Taylor nearly choked on air but Saguru kept a cool figure. "Alright, go ahead and ask away."

"No! Jason, Nick, you two already asked these questions!" Taylor hissed.

"No, we didn't." Nick proclaimed.

"You stopped us before we could and changed the topic." Jason reminded her.

"Just let them get the questions out of the way." Saguru told her. _It'll be easier this way_ , his eyes said. Taylor stared at him before sighing and waving her hand for them to continue.

"Alright, first question." Jason said, holding one finger up.

"Why are you dating our sister?" Nick asked.

"There are mutual feelings of infatuation between the two of us," Saguru answered easily. "And we both agreed that because of these feelings it would only be right for us to date."

Jason nodded in acceptance and Nick continued. "What is your religious orientation?"

"I'm an atheist."

"You know, it's always good to have Jesus Christ in your life." Jason mentioned. Taylor's chair squeaked as she stood and she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"You're an atheist too, damn it! Both of you are!" She exclaimed.

"Taylor, be quiet or you're going to sit at the kids table." Her father said, shooting a harsh look towards them. Taylor winced and sat down quietly. Saguru lightly squeezed her thigh for reassurance before putting both of his hands back on the table for her brothers to see.

"Where do you live?"

"I'm aware that you've been to my house before to drop off Taylor."

"How many people did you date before you started dating Taylor?"

"I believe that the number of people I may or may not have dated before your sister doesn't matter since I'm dating her now, especially since I wouldn't date them again and she trusts that I will stay loyal just as I trust that she would." Saguru answered. Taylor nodded her head in acceptance. "But the answer is three."

"Would you like to have kids one day?"

Saguru went silent and Taylor watched him, curious about his answer. Finally, he raised his eyes and stared at them directly. "I'm fine either way," He said. "I _would_ like children, yes, but I am also fine without having any since Taylor doesn't want any."

Taylor's face turned red. "W-what?" Children? Children would mean marriage. Marrying Saguru? She would be lying if she said that she hasn't thought about it, more recent than before, but still…

The twins stared at him for a moment before Jason asked his first question. "Do you like classical music, Saguru?" Taylor sighed, covering her face with her hands. _Thank you for changing the topic._

Saguru smiled. "It's one of my favorite genres."

Jason nodded. "Mine too. Taylor, would you like to play something for us to listen to?"

"No, I'm eating." She grabbed her drink, letting the rim of the cup half-cover her face.

Nick shrugged and stood. "Alright, then I'll play."

"No, you will not!"

"Aunt Taylor gets mad if you touch her piano without permission!" Tori spoke up from the kid's table. They turned to see the children watching them.

"Mm-hmm! She yelled at us when we only touched it!" Tyler agreed. Jason mock gasped.

"Taylor! Yelling at poor Tyler and Tori like that!" He put the back of his hand to his forehead and leaned back. "I'm so astonished, I think I'm going to faint!"

"Oh, my dear Jason!" Nick said, taking his cup and walking over to the piano. "I feel as if we need to get to the bottom of this! And the only way to do that is to go to the source of the problem!"

"Do _not_ bring drinks to my piano!" Taylor snarled, standing up again. Saguru looked at her and back to her brothers.

"Perhaps you should just sit back down, both of you." Saguru told him warily.

Nick ignored him. "What, do you not drink at your piano?"

"I do, but _you_ won't!" Nick slowly moved towards the instrument. "Nicholas, I swear to god if you continue towards that piano I will _end_ you _!"_ They stared at each other.

"It's rude to threaten people." Jason said. Nick took another step towards the piano. Taylor dashed towards the doorway and grabbed an instrument case- because God forbid they actually put it where they're supposed to- and quickly opened it and pulled out a violin. Nick narrowed his eyes as she held the front side for him to see, her finger hooking around one of the strings.

It's odd how the only ones who are watching this spectacle are and Jason, Saguru thought. Apparently this was a common enough occurrence for no one else to care.

Nick placed his cup on the piano. The string pulled taut. He held his dirty fingers for her to see and placed it on the keys.

The string snapped as soon as keys were pressed. Two people shrieked at once and ran to their respective instruments. "You dirtied my piano!"

"You broke my string!"

" _You dirtied my piano!"_

" _You broke my string!"_

"Just buy another one! What am I going to do to my piano _now?!"_

"Oh, I don't know, _clean_ it?"

"Nothing can rid the markings you did to my precious baby!"

"If you two don't settle down now you're going to sit at the kids table!"

" _We aren't children!"_

No, Saguru thought as he took a drink of his water. This wasn't halfway to chaos, it _was_ chaos.


	27. Day 27

**Day Twenty-seven: Moving in together**

"-and if you walk through here you will notice that there is an open-concept kitchen, so you can still communicate with your guests even while you're cooking." Taylor's eyes brightened.

"It's a very modern kitchen." She commented, moving around the space. There was plenty of room for her and Saguru to move around in, she thought. "This spot right here, the little counter that acts as the barrier between the kitchen and dining room, is exactly like the one at my house."

"Then you will fall in love with this house easily." The realtor said with a grin on his face. Taylor sent him a challenging look.

"We'll see about that." She said. The grin faltered slightly.

"What about the living room?" Saguru stepped in. "A good amount of space for guests, I hope." The man sent him a reassuring look and Saguru had to hold in a sigh. Taylor is the most difficult person to please when looking for a house to live in, he found out. She loves looking at kitchens and the designs of the houses and _loves_ most of them, but was the pickiest person ever when deciding where she wants to live.

He, on the other hand, only had the minimal requirements of where to live, which was the basic requirements of normal house- with acceptable sizes, of course- and an office for him to work in. This had all of it so far- and so did the last five.

"Of course, if you would just follow me in here-"

"There's not as much natural light as I expected there to be." Taylor didn't see the look the man had and Saguru was thankful that she didn't.

"I'm sure that there is more than what most houses would have." The man said.

"At this point I'm sure it would be much easier to make a house of our own." She mused.

"I'm nearly positive that it's much cheaper and faster to find an already built house." The man's grin grew wider and Saguru would tell that he was going to lose his temper. He wasn't surprised if he did with how Taylor was acting.

"We can always have more windows added in," Saguru said. "And your bay window, if you'd like."

"Of course I would like." She said, looking around the living room. "The staircase is in here?"

"Yes, and as you can see, once you go to the second floor you can look down at the living room below." The man nodded, motioning to the overhead above.

"Seems nice." Saguru said at the same time Taylor said. "It looks like a hazard to me."

The two men gave Taylor a confused look before she continued. "You know, for children, _especially_ teenagers- take my word on that- they might make a game of jumping over the railing to the couches below."

Saguru's eyes widened at that. Children? What was she thinking about children for? The man frowned. "There are options that you can have to make a better railing so that won't happen."

"Seems like a waste of money to me." Taylor shot at him, smirking at the man's agitated look. _This is coming from the girl who recommended building her own house from scratch._

"Then the upstairs has the offices, I assume." Saguru interrupted again with a sigh, pushing the thought of children to the side for the moment. He had other things to do, like dealing with the child that was in his presence at this very moment. The man nodded and led them upstairs.

"There's an office here and one in the room next to it. Exactly the same in looks, so you can just look at one if you'd like." The man explained, hoping that they would say yes.

Saguru inspected the room and nodded his approval while Taylor bit her lip. "It's bigger than the one I have now." She said slowly.

The man shared a smile with Saguru. "Let's continue with the rest of the house."

The master bedroom was huge, with a balcony that overviewed the yard. "The yard could be bigger."

"I agree, but I hope that the rest of the house will make up for that. Plus, in the afternoons you can look past your fence and off at the hills off in the distance to see a beautiful sunset."

Taylor was getting a bit antsy. "I would like to relook at the house again on my own before I make any final decisions."

"Of course." The man looked at Saguru as Taylor walked off. "Shall I discuss the cost and benefits with you now and you discuss it with her afterwards, or would you like to wait for her?"

Saguru let out his sigh. "Let's do it now, it'll be faster this way anyway."

After the cost was discussed the man allowed Saguru to wander off to look at the house without him as well. He found Taylor in the living room, gazing out of the windows at the near setting sun. She jumped in surprise when he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. She took a calming breath before tilting her head to lightly rest against his. "Hey."

"Hey," she responded. "You scared me."

He chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I know." She closed her eyes. "I don't like that guy; can we get a new one?"

"I would hope not, with the way you were talking about this house." Taylor let out a disagreeing noise before he shushed her. "Nonsense- it's a beautiful home, Taylor, and much better than the ones that we've looked at before. I know that you like this one just like I do."

She sighed. "I know you know that. I just don't like the guy, that's all, and me being a bitch is just my payback." She paused. "Well, most if it anyway. I wasn't a fan of the other houses."

"What about this one?"

"Not completely sold- almost there, but not completely."

"Not completely sold." He repeated with a small hum. He let go of her. "Alright, let's get you sold on this house now. You seemed fine with the upstairs and kitchen, so let's talk about the living room."

She turned and mock bowed towards him. "Oh, Saguru, do show me the ways of loving this house!"

He grinned. "Alright, look at those windows. They're tall, almost going from the ceiling to the floor. It's facing west, so we can get the proper amount of light from the sunset, like we are now. If we put a couch right here we can sit and watch it, perhaps reading a book and enjoying the last amount of the day."

She tilted her head. "And my piano?"

"That can go right over here, so the white will shine orange from the rays." He said while motioning at the spot he was standing on. "The bookshelves can go along this wall with a break in the middle of them for the television. And the rest of the couches can go over here."

Taylor laughed. "You seem to have this all planned out."

"It's the proper way to find out if you really enjoy the house."

"Imagining furniture in the room?"

"Imagining _our_ furniture in the room," he corrected. "The ones that will decide if we want this to be our home."

Taylor looked at him before looking around the room with soft eyes. "I can see it," She said in an equally soft voice.

"Does that mean you're sold?" He asked.

She grinned and nodded. "I'm sold."

He walked back over to her. "Even with the safety hazard?" Taylor giggled and he took her hand. "I thought you disliked children."

"I thought I did too." She agreed, looking down at their hands and squeezing his lightly. "But when Tyler and Tori came and you helped me take care of them for the day, and when you mentioned that you wanted children at dinner with my family, I realized that they aren't that bad when you have someone there to help you."

He frowned. "I hope you aren't saying you want children because I said that I wanted them. I told you I was fine-"

"No!" Taylor interrupted, placing her other hand on his cheek. He tilted into it. "Your comment only got made me to start thinking about it. Usually I'm disgusted at the thought, but then I imagined you being there and suddenly it was okay again." She looked suddenly looked a little bashful. "And I'm sure that if we _do_ have children, then all of my insecurities will be cured if you're there with me- for the most part, anyway."

His gaze softened and he placed his hand on the one that was on his cheek. "I _will_ be there," he assured her. "Have no doubts about that."

They stared at each other for a moment, gazes full of emotions, before Taylor giggled. "Here we are talking about children when we aren't even moved in together or engaged yet."

"It's good to discuss it," He said. "We've been serious for years now- which is a wonder why we're only moving in now- and it's important that we discuss this before anything gets more serious than what it already is."

"I suppose so." She sighed. He smiled and raised her hand to lightly brush his lips over her knuckles. "I like the house."

His smile grew and he tugged on her hand to where the realtor was waiting. "Then let's go get the rest of the paperwork done."


	28. Day 28

**Day Twenty-eight: Falling in love**

If there was anything Saguru has learned about love, it's not like the stories tell it.

There is no sudden realization that you love them, and it's not a sudden feeling that you feel either. You can't just look at someone, get that flutter in your stomach, and realize 'this is it, this is love'. Though it would be much nicer if it _was_ like that. But alas, the human mind and it's emotions don't work that way- at least, not for him.

Love wasn't a word that he often thought about. Sure, he was a flirt- that comes with being attractive, you know- but he never really thought about what would happen if he actually pursued a full time relationship with one of the girls that came and confessed their "love" for them (they used the word _far_ too loosely in his opinion), which was probably why none of his relationships lasted very long (even though he was the one to break up with most of them).

Usually his mind was on cases he had to solve. Where did the gem go? Who murdered the old man? What was he going to do _this_ time to catch Kaitou Kid? He got a thrill doing this kind of work and he loved it. He loved the feeling of finding out the answer after working hard at trying to find it. Going step-by-step though the equations, examining the details, talking about motives and questioning the suspects; that was his life ever since he was a teenager and nothing ended up changing it, just how he wanted it.

And then Taylor came along.

Taylor, he decided, was the one puzzle he could never figure out. Every time he thought that he had done it, had _finally_ unraveled the mystery that was Taylor Maddox, she revealed another part of her that he had to try and work into the large knot that was her personality.

She had shown him sides that no one else has seen before, and he's done the same with her. Sometimes he wondered if she knew him as well as he knew her- if not better than what he understood of her. She could read his face and somehow figure out his feelings; could examine his actions and get herself in his head and find out what he was thinking. She had weaved herself into his mind whether she had intended it or not. She probably wasn't even aware of doing it.

But, somehow, Saguru found himself not minding this. She was forever his puzzle that he was going to solve, and she was only going to get more complex as time went on and they shared more experiences with each other. He loved that he was going to be able to do that, loved that they could understand each other like they do, loved that he could stay by her side and have it seem like the most natural thing that ever happened to them.

He loves her, and he's known for years.

And really, he knows that she loves him as well. They both know that they love each other- they've just never said it aloud, as they've had no need to. They could tell by the way they acted around each other, they way they trusted each other with their lives (something that they've unfortunately had to put into action, with the dangerous situations his job sometimes forced her into), the way they looked at each other and the way they can _see_ the vulnerable emotions in the other's eyes. But perhaps it was time that one of them said it aloud. And he knew that she wasn't going to do it first.

"Saguru, you're staring at me. Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered and all, but it's starting to reach that point where it's creeping me out." Saguru snapped out of it and realized that he's been staring at her while he was thinking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He apologized, placing his hand on top of hers. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand, feeling the fabric of the gloves she was wearing. It was starting to get a bit cold, even for late autumn, but she had insisted that they were to go on a walk and enjoy the last of the leaves before snow came to cover them up in a cold blanket.

Taylor scoffed. "I _knew_ you weren't listening."

He knew that she knew he wasn't listening. She could take one look at his face and realize when he was zoning out to his own thoughts again. He could tell she realized when he was doing it because she got this slightly annoyed look on her face- the same look she was giving him right now. "I'm listening, so continue."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll back up a few minutes so you can get caught up on what I was saying. So anyway- wait a moment." Her eyes brightened and she practically leapt to her feet. "I think that's a pile of crunchy leaves right over there. Excuse me while I go step in it."

And as Saguru watched her run over and jump onto the pile, witnessing the grin grow on her face as she heard the satisfying _crunch_ they made under her boots, he thought that he never wanted to live his life without her in it. Of course, he's known that already, but that didn't stop the small box in his pocket from feeling like it was growing heavier, as if it was ready to be shown to the world on one certain girl's finger. "Taylor?"

"Yes?" She turned and he almost forgot what he was going to say. Her blue eyes were shinning with happiness, her hair shimmering with the last of the afternoon sun when she moved to look at him fully. She pulled strands of hair that was covering her face back, tilting her head slightly as she stared at him curiously. "What is it?"

He opened his mouth.


	29. Day 29

**Day Twenty-nine: Doing chores around the house**

Since they moved in together, Taylor and Saguru had a schedule. Every day after meals they would do the dishes together; every two weeks they would do their laundry (or sooner, if need be, but that wasn't often) and clean the dogs' blankets; and at the end of the month they would do a mass clean of the whole house.

It's a schedule that worked for them, since Taylor could now wait to do stuff that she didn't want to do- like laundry- and still have the house be clean, and Saguru would get the schedule that he loves so much. The only problem was on the mass cleaning days, when Taylor's procrastination want was at its peak

"Do we have to?" Taylor moaned, lying face down on the couch. Wilson was lying by her feet while Duke stood next to her, resting his head on the small of her back and wagging his tail. He probably wanted to go outside and was bothering Taylor about it. Saguru reached down to scratch Duke's ears. "Why can't we just skip it this time and lie around and do nothing?"

"If we do that then we'll skip out on our other chores and keep putting it off until the house is a mess." He told her, furrowing his brow as he looked down at her lazy form. "And we don't want a dirty house, do we?"

Her voice was muffled when she stuffed her face into the cushion, still in denial about cleaning. "No."

"Then get up!" He nudged her side before letting Duke outside, staring at the yard and taking note of the darkening sky. "Do you want to start inside or out this time?" He was thinking that they should start outside because of the rain. Taylor didn't agree with him.

"Inside- if we hold off on cleaning outside then I can have something to look forward to. Plus, it shouldn't rain until later tonight." Taylor loved cleaning outside, simply because it was easier for her to get distracted with Duke running around wanting to play with her. This could either be a good or a bad thing, depending on who you ask.

"Alright, then what room do you want to start with?" He asked. "I'm going to work on the kitchen."

"The dining room." Saguru nodded but didn't move. Taylor lifted her head when she didn't hear his footsteps. "What?" He raised his eyebrows, clearly calling her out on her innocent look. "Do you want me to get up?"

"Preferably, yes." He said. "That way I don't have to worry about you procrastinating on your job." Taylor groaned and rolled off of the couch and onto her knees. She paused and ran her fingers over the hardwood before making a face. "What is it?"

"Can I change my answer to the living room? I don't like this floor's condition." Saguru nodded before walking off to do his job, where would work for exactly half an hour before she would call out to him (it was almost like she was watching the clock instead of working).

"This is taking forever!"

"It wouldn't take as long if you picked up after yourself." He called back. He could hear Taylor grumble in the other room and smiled to himself as he wiped off the counters. Then he moved to clean the dining room table. "Do you have the broom?"

"Probably." He would wait for more of an answer before sighing.

"Would you look around for it, please?" She would look around before finding it leaning against the wall (where she put it when she first started cleaning) and will call out three seconds later before running into the dining room. It happened each and every time, and this time was no different.

"Found it!" Saguru nodded to himself and reached out his hand just as Taylor pressed the cool, round surface into it. "Here ya go."

"Thank you. How's the living room going?"

"It's almost done; I just have to wipe the dust off the shelves."

"The shelves aren't that dirty, so it shouldn't take too long."

"I know that, but if I'm cleaning then everythinghas to be _sparkling_." She ran back out. "I'll get the bathroom done after this!"

"Maybe you could clean your office instead."

Footsteps paused before racing back into the dining room. "That's _my_ space. I don't have to clean it."

"I know you don't _have_ to. I'm just saying that it would look better if it was."

"I wouldn't know where everything would go." She protested.

"In an organized arrangement, where you can easily find the items you need while having the added bonus of it looking good." He inspected the table before nodding and moving towards the decorations on the walls.

Taylor snorted as she moved to help him with the decorations. "Like _your_ office? I'll have you know that my stuff _is_ organized."

"Is that so?"

"Yes- it's in an organized mess."

"That's an oxymoron." He told her. "Oh, that reminds me. Do you want another bookcase in your office? I'm getting another one and was wondering if you wanted one as well."

"I'd like one, yes." Taylor responded. "But don't expect me to be any more organized afterwards."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Saguru sighed, looking down at her.

She grinned and hung up the one decoration she cleaned before turning to walk out of the room. "Once you're done with that, will you help me clean the bathroom? I lied when I said I wanted to clean it."

He knew that already, but that didn't stop him from giving the same answer he always did. Repetition was always welcome in his life, but if Taylor noticed then she would try and change it. "Yeah, go ahead and get the stuff out to clean it- and don't forget to do the shelves in the living room.

He would later come and find out that the bathroom was already cleaned and she would have moved on to another bathroom, claiming that they were much faster to clean than she previously thought. He would agree and would let her finish with the bathrooms (he would tidy his office a little bit because, unlike Taylor, he liked working in a clean space) before they would work on the entrance hallway together. Then they would move upstairs to work on their room.

It wouldn't take them long at all to clean the space, mostly because Saguru made sure it was mostly tidy already. But when a clasp of thunder sounded outside, making them both jump in surprise, Taylor cheered and fell back on their freshly made bed, almost making a point of messing up the fresh sheets as she squirmed around on it.

"Come lay down with me, Saguru." She offered a hand out to him after she got comfy.

He stared at her for a moment with a sneaking suspicion that she knew that this was going to happen, and chose to clean inside first so they won't have to do the outside, before sighing and moving to lie down next to her. She let out a pleased sound and curled up next to him. Saguru closed his eyes and listened to the rain, thinking that maybe, just maybe, next month they could switch up the schedule and end the repetition.

Then Taylor shot up, exclaiming, "Duke!"

They left Duke outside while it was raining. He was fine with it, of course, but they weren't when he dragged in a bunch of mud with him as well.

"I have to re-clean the living room!" Taylor moaned, lying face down on the couch again. "And we have to wash Duke! _Why_ did it have to start raining?"

And then Saguru changed his mind about getting rid of the repetition. They were definitely keeping it for next month.


	30. Day 30

**Oh my god, it's the last prompt. I would just like to thank all of you for staying with me these past thirty days, and for putting up with me not updating every day. This was a ride and I appreciate you guys reading it! Oh, and remember those feelings from the prompt "Watching the other sleep"? They came back.**

 **Day Thirty: Pillow talk**

Taylor let out a sigh as she shifted against Saguru. Her bare calves moved against his legs and her head was very comfortable at its place on his chest. She traced the muscles of his stomach idly before laying her hand flat right above where his heart was supposed to be. If she was really silent, she could probably figure out the beat of his heart.

But she didn't need to be silent as it was already silent between them. Saguru was quiet and she could tell that he was thinking hard about something. She really didn't want to interrupt him, but they were sitting in silence for awhile now and she was growing tired of it. "I think we should get a cat."

That surprised him. "What?"

"You seem like a cat person to me. We only have dogs, so that kinda works against you. I mean, we have Wilson and he can seem like a cat with the way he likes to lounge around and sleep all the time, but I think an actual cat will be good." She was rambling, but anything was better than silence after sex.

"Is that so?" He asked, moving his arm from under her so he could lightly brush his hand over her hair. She almost let out another content sigh if she didn't realize that he was going back into his thoughts. Her hand went back to tracing over the small dips in his stomach, memorizing every detail that was there. But she's done this plenty of times before. Even if she enjoyed doing it, it wasn't helping getting rid of the silence that came back.

So she moved again so she could look at his face. He was staring at the ceiling, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought. "What's wrong?"

It took him a moment to respond, and when he did he didn't answer her question. "What was it like growing up?" The tracing faltered and he wondered if it was the wrong thing to say.

"Any specific part you want to know?" She asked slowly.

"What was it like growing up without your father around?" He elaborated. He knew that Taylor hated not having a father around, and it was even worse when her mother wasn't around either. She expressed those feelings before. The light tracing continued as she rested against him again.

"I hated it," she said again, as if he needed reminding of it. "The kids at school would always talk about their dads and what they did with them and I was never able to join in like they could. I never had that bond with my dad that the rest of the kids had with theirs." Her hand lightly brushed against his chest as it moved its way back up to his heart again. "It's weird- as a young child I remember him and my mom being there to raise and take care of me. But I suppose that after they both got their promotions they decided that work was much better than raising their three kids."

Work was more important than the relationships and bonds they had with each other and their children. His chest tightened a little at that.

"Were you happy as a child, though?" Saguru asked, closing his eyes and focusing on the feeling of her slightly tangled hair under his fingers.

She hummed an approval and tapped a beat on his chest- his heartbeat? He didn't think his heartbeat was that fast. "Nick and Jason made up for it. They always took care of me in their place, making sure I had as good as a childhood as they had, if not better." She grinned at the fond memories of them getting in trouble together, doing dangerous things that no kids her age should have been doing. That sledding accident in the spring that gave her a scar came to mind.

It came to his mind too. He wondered what other adventures she had that he wasn't aware of.

"They acted like my parents sometimes," Taylor continued, her voice nostalgic. "They would take turns on who was the mom and who was the dad and would act like a normal parent would. Chasing away potential boyfriends, setting a curfew, making sure I did my homework properly, that kind of thing."

His hand left her hair to take its place at her shoulder, his thumb drawing circles on the soft skin there. "Chasing away boyfriends?"

"Mm-hmm, but that was partly a brother thing too. Y'know, making sure no one hurts their baby sister and all. They knew how to act like brothers if they needed to as well." Taylor looked at him again before speaking almost hesitantly. "…Why do you want to know?"

"No specific reason," Saguru replied, opening his eyes to look at the ceiling and all of its imperfections again. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" He didn't answer and she took a more demanding tone. "Saguru, what were you thinking about?"

"Just into the future- it's not that important." He said, biting the inside of his cheek before stopping. After all of the reprimanding he gave Taylor, he was _not_ going to do that nasty habit. He wasn't going to be a hypocrite.

"I bet it is," she challenged. She sat up and stared at him, studying his honey-brown eyes and the way his hair fell messily into his face. Taylor usually liked the way he looked after sex, but right now she was a little put off at the way he avoided looking at her. "Saguru, tell me."

Saguru sighed and shifted so he could partly lean against the headboard. He closed his eyes again, finding that he couldn't escape looking at her with them open. "You'll think it's stupid."

"That'll be surprising, since it's coming from you." He reopened his eyes for the sole purpose of giving her an annoyed look.

"After all of this time, do you really still believe a stupid thought can't come out of my mouth?" Saguru asked, irritated. Taylor furrowed her brows and shook her head.

"No- I'm sorry, please continue." She said.

It took him a moment to continue again and when he did he spoke slowly, hesitantly. "Once we're married, and possibly have children, I'm worried that I'm going to give them the same childhood that you had with your father." He admitted.

The crease between her eyebrows deepened. "I don't understand."

"You've been with me on cases before- sometimes we get stuck somewhere for a few days. Sometimes someone gets upset that they're being accused of murder and will attack someone. Sometimes we're shot at and people will go so far as to _murder_ another human being for putting someone in jail." He couldn't seem to stop, as if he needed to make sure that she _really_ understood what was going through his mind. "Sometimes I have to spend my time shadowing another person to gather information on them. Sometimes I stay and work late to make sure I have all of my facts correct. Sometimes I have to leave for a few days to meet a major, important person. I'm going to be gone often."

Taylor's voice reflected her anger and frustration. "So you think that just because you're going to be gone for so long our children will have the same childhood that I- that _we_ had?" She knew that his father wasn't there for him much either. Sure, he was there physically, but at the same time he wasn't as major a part of his childhood that other fathers were for their children.

He didn't say anything. She placed her hand on his. "Saguru, when your dad came home did he expect a lot of you since you were so smart?"

"Yes."

"Did a lot of the expectations come from your social class as well?"

"Most likely."

"Mine did too." She said delicately. "Now, think about this: you come home from a case and walk through the door. Our child immediately comes running up to meet you. Which do you ask about first: their day or their grades?"

"I would ask about their day and save the education stuff for dinner conversation." He finally looked at her. "What are you getting at?"

"Saguru, do you think that you would actually care about your children, or would you just show them off like some trophy?" Taylor asked. "'Cause I know you, and I know that you will be a great father that will love and care about his children."

Saguru's eyes softened and he placed a hand on her cheek. She leaned into his touch and placed her hand on his. He caught the glint of the engagement ring on her finger and his heart swelled with emotions for her. "You know me too well." She scoffed and he continued. "You will make a great mother too, no matter what you think."

"You think so?" She asked softly.

"I know so."

A smile danced across her lips. "You wanna know something else?"

"Sure."

"I love you," Taylor told him. His eyes widened in surprise and he couldn't help but smile at the words. At her. "And I know they will too, whether you're at work all the time or not."

"You just lied; you don't know that will happen." He accused. No one can know the feelings of someone else in the future. That was so troubling about the human mind and emotions; you will never know the thoughts and feelings of someone else.

"Alright, so I did." She agreed. "But I _do_ know that you won't fall into the same upper-class-child-trophy trap that our parents' did. And if you did then I'll probably kick your ass or something."

Saguru chuckled. "That wouldn't surprise me at all." He slid his hand to the nape of her neck and pulled her down to kiss her. She leaned over him, closing her eyes and kissing him back.

He pulled her back after a moment and she looked at him. With the way her face glowed and her hair seemed to float behind her shoulders messily, she seemed to fit the look of an angel perfectly. She was anything but, though, and his smile turned into a smirk. "What _now?_ "

"I love you." He said and watched her face turn slightly pink. She was still embarrassed from the words finally being spoken aloud, regardless of her easily speaking them just a minute prior. Or maybe she was that happy over hearing the words. He told himself that he was going to say it to her more often. Meanwhile, she leaned down and kissed him again.

"I love you too."


End file.
